Never Let You Down
by YourGuardianAngel08
Summary: Four years after the defeat of Thanos, the world is finally back to normal. Tony and Pepper have a son and Peter is off at MIT. Tony has retired Iron Man in the hopes of working as a backer for the new class of Avengers but when someone from Tony's past kidnaps Peter, Tony will do anything to get him back. Irondad/Spideyson; whump!Peter
1. Chapter 1

**Alright so I have been feeling particularly angsty lately (maybe because its almost time to go back to school) but I have been working on this little story for a few days and I figured in a last hurrah of summer I would post it.**

 **This is a bit different from anything else Avengers related I have written. In this case, it takes place after my story 'You Can Be Damned Sure We'll Avenge It' but its not necessary to read for this to make sense.**

 **TL;DR: Tony retires for reasons after the defeat of Thanos and Peter gets to go about his life but their relationship has gotten closer. This is four years after Thanos so Peter is away at college and Tony and Pepper have a young son named Morgan.**

 **Just to let you know before you read, this is an Irondad/Spideyson story, so for those of you who don't like that plot line, I'm warning you now.**

 **For those who do, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Tony was tinkering with the brace on his arm when his phone started to vibrate against the table. The sound scared him and the head of the screwdriver jumped out of the threads, "Dammit," he cursed before reaching over his arm and tapping on the phone to answer it, smirking at the name on the caller id. "Hey, kid, what's up?" He knew that Peter was normally in class until after two so it was a little weird he was calling but he just assumed he had a break. That was until the kid did not answer, did not say anything and Tony felt that old feeling of dread creep up, "Pete…" he started, hoping the kid just misdialed him or something. Then he heard sobbing. Tony immediately hit record on his phone and started to close up the housing on the brace.

"Pete, are you there?" He tried to keep his voice quiet and calm but the fear still leaked through.

"Dad?" The voice was quiet and laced with pain.

Tony swore at the quiver in his voice, "Yah, its me, kid. What's going on?"

Peter stuttered and stumbled as he tried to answer, "I – I don't know. I don't remember much after leaving the library yesterday. I woke in this…cell and they…uh…they hit me – for…uh…for a while. It hurt. This is the first time they've left me alone. They took – um – they took my phone and my backpack but they left my watch…" He wandered off with a pained groan.

As deep as that sound cut, Tony could not help but thank god for small miracles when Peter said he still had his watch. And then he could not help but thank his anxiety because it was what led him to put pretty much every failsafe he could think of into his son's watch. He barked an order, "FRIDAY, find him." Not waiting for an answer, he turned his full attention back to the phone, "Okay – alright, Pete. I'm getting your location now, keep talking to me and I'll be there as soon as I can, okay."

"Please hurry." Peter begged, a rare inflection of fear rang through clearly with the plea.

"Hold on Pete." He tipped his head back up to the ceiling, "How's it coming FRIDAY?" But he did not hear the AI's answer because Peter's hissed demand recalled his attention.

"Quiet, someone's coming."

Tony pressed the phone tighter to his ear as he heard Peter yelp a moment before the creaking sound of a heavy door cut through the feed. Heavy footfalls were loud in the background as a voice rang out, "Who's he talking to?" The grating, nasal voice caught Tony's attention. Then it continued, "Did you leave him with a phone?" The voice rose in pitch, the same way it always did when he got caught and Tony unconsciously curled his hands into fists as the taunting continued, "Are you really that stupid?"

But the identity of the speaker lost all his interest as he heard Peter start to scramble backward as he tried to avoid the loud footfalls moving closer to him.

Then a deeper voice that was much closer to the watch answered, "It's a watch, boss."

"Well, destroy it, he's obviously talking to someone on it." The higher voice scoffed as if it should have been obvious that a watch was in fact used for communication.

An answering grunt was probably the thug that saw the watch and then Tony heard a sound that turned his stomach. Peter shrieked in pain and the reception wavered but not before he heard the sound of crunching bone. A scream pierced the connection twice more before the call finally cut out. "Pete? Peter!" Tony screamed before turning his fear on the AI, "FRIDAY, where is he?" Tony managed to ground out before as he slammed the a nanobot housing onto his wrists.

The sweet Irish tone modulated into sadness when she answered, "I couldn't find him, boss. Something was messing with the signal, it kept bouncing."

Frustration boiled over as the tortured screams of his oldest son played over in his head. In pure anger, Tony whipped the screwdriver across the room, not even hearing the satisfying collapse as it slammed into something glass across the way. He snatched the other nanobot housing off the diagnostic pad he had been using and snapped it around his wrist. Only a moment later, he felt the familiar crawl of nanobots as the armor he had not worn in four years slipped seamlessly back into place. Iron Man suit in place, Tony headed for the hanger.

* * *

Pepper was playing with their son when she heard the loud shattering of glass and other materials from the lab. Worry jumped into her throat as she assumed Tony did something stupid with one of the experiments he was running. Scooping Morgan into her arms, she took off down the stairs. Before she even reached the bottom, she called out, "Tony, is everything alright?" But the minute she turned the corner, she knew more than just an experiment had gone horribly wrong. Tugging the door open, she loudly called out to her armored husband, "Tony, what is it, what's wrong?"

He was standing at the back of the lab, headed toward the hanger when he turned and let the helmet melt back off the suit. His face was set into a sickened expression but his eyes were hard as he snarled the answer to her question, "Someone took Pete."

Pepper unconsciously shifted Morgan closer as she tried to comprehend what he was saying. Peter was at school, he was studying engineering. And no one outside of the Avengers knew who he was, her twirling thoughts coalesced into a stuttered couple of questions, "Wh-what? Who would…what?"

Morgan started bouncing in Pepper's arms when he heard Peter's name, quickly adding his question to the conversation, "Is Peter coming home soon?"

The sickened look on Tony's face morphed into something far more dangerous as he stepped up to his youngest son, so when he tenderly touched the side of the young boy's face, the gentleness was a sharp juxtaposition to the murder in his eyes, "He will be, Morgan, I promise." Then he covered his baby's ears and caught Pepper's eyes, hissing, "Someone took Pete. I don't know where and I don't know how but I'm going to find them and then I'm going to kill them." His tone did not allow for any argument.

But she was not about to argue. Pepper felt her own anger bubble to the surface as she her eyes wandered over the suit he had not worn in a long time. She could not stop him and she did not want to, "Go get him back." She ordered, pulling Morgan a little closer to her side as she watched Tony turn and head toward the hanger.

* * *

Peter curled around his wrist and sobbed. He had hoped he would be able to get a distress call out and at least get some backup but he knew that with how badly destroyed the watch was, he had to assume backup was not coming. He needed to start thinking but the pain numbed his mind. He fought it as his eyes starting to droop. The exhaustion tugged at his senses, reminding him that it had been at least a couple of days since he had slept. Then his stomach growled its frustration as well and he remembered that he had skipped breakfast and lunch to study.

Agitation built the longer he took stock of his surroundings and he could not help the tears that escaped. He desperately needed help, he really needed his dad. But he could not let himself give up. Pressing his working hand to his temple in a bid to clear his mind, he tried to remember exactly what happened. His memory was a little hazy but he could remember some of what happened. The library was the last thing he remembered clearly and then...then a pin prick? Something had stuck him as he was coming out of the hall, had someone run into him? He shook his head to clear it farther but that was a mistake as pain flared up and he had to force his head into his hand to stop the spinning. Peter knew he was supposed to be a superhero but all he felt right now was fear.

Forcing himself to take as deep a breath as he could, he closed his eyes again. He needed a plan. If his dad could find him, he would, but he needed to assume that FRIDAY had not been able to trace the call, he had to assume that he was his only way out. Whoever took him knew who he was, the one with the nasally voice had mentioned his moniker when they cut him, so Peter knew there was no reason to keep up the ordinary kid façade. He started to look around the room and found it well constructed, like they had built it for someone like him. He deflated a little further as he realized that even the door was steel reinforced concrete. He knew he could lift it, but only if he could get his hands under it.

Glancing around for a few more minutes, he kept going back to that door. So that was it, the door was the weak point.

While it was not a full plan, it was a part of a plan and it gave him something more to build on. Creeping forward as quietly as he could, Peter studied the door. It looked thick and heavy but there was a small gap underneath that seemed just a little too thin for his fingers. He could work with that. Then he pressed his head against the door and closed his eyes, forcing his senses to focus on the noises outside. There was one soft breath that he heard just outside the door and what sounded like pacing footsteps at the end of what he assumed was some kind of hallway given the relatively short time before the guard turned and paced the other direction. The guard far away would be a problem but if he could jam up this door, he might be able to get an upper hand on them both when they came to investigate. Crouching down and ignoring the way the bruises pulled across his skin, Peter took a deep breath and jammed both his hands as far under the door as he could. He bit his tongue hard enough that it bled as he felt the skin tear away from his nails and the pads of his fingers but he had a passable grip on the bottom of the door. He crouched low, ready to shift the door up before hopefully kicking it out. They might have known he was Spider-man but few outside of the Avengers really knew how strong he was. He took a deep breath as he pulled hard, trying to use whatever power he could from his legs and arms. He felt every bruised muscle and broken bone in his body start to scream as his broken wrist popped and shifted with the strain. But then the door shifted slightly, giving him a bit more room to shove his fingers underneath. The leverage let him move the door more and he groaned with the effort as the lock snapped under the pressure. Peter was panting heavily as a distinctly sharp pain shot through his chest and he felt what had been a cracked rib give way under the strain. Still he had to keep going. Pushing even harder, he screamed in his last gasp of strength as he felt the door finally give way. Dancing back a few steps, he darted forward, slamming into the door with his shoulder.

The door fell with all the finesse of a massive tree, slamming into the ground with a booming thud and pinning the guard behind its weight. Peter stumbled onto the remains, holding his wrist to his chest as he looked both directions. The guard he had heard at the end of the hall was running at him so Peter took off the opposite direction. He made it to the end of the hall, only to miss ducking under the outstretched arm of a burly man he did not sense coming. Peter fell back hard, instinctually breaking his fall with his hands and crying out as he collapsed to the left as his wrist finally gave out under him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, kid?" The bald, muscular guard drew himself up to his full height sneering down at the young man on the floor.

The guy was huge, like as big as Thor huge but he was ugly as sin. His missing front teeth were on full display as he snarled and the jagged scar across his cheek pinched with his scowling expression. And all Peter could do was crouch into a more protective stance. He tucked his broken wrist into his stomach and held his other hand out in front of him. He could taste the acidic bite of fear as he stared up at the massive man.

"You were trying to escape weren't you?" He narrowed his eyes at Peter, "Looks like we'll have to see more of that speed healing. Hey!" The thug called out to someone farther down the hallway, commanding, "Get down here!"

Four men appeared, each as large as his original tormentor. Then the large guy stared down at him again, "See here's the deal, my job is to keep you here. That's it. I was not given many parameters when it came to doing that so…" he trailed off turning to face the men behind him. "Pin him down." Each one of them moved forward, each trying to catch one of the suddenly flailing limbs. Peter threw himself at one of them and managed to land a punch square against his chest, causing the man to stumble back as he grabbed at his ribcage. But then the big brute, the one who was doing the talking stepped forward, snatched his broken wrist, and twisted.

The blinding pain of the now twice rebroken limb dropped Peter to his knees as he heaved the bile that was all that was left in his stomach. But the man was not done. Grunting some kind of command to the men in the hallway, Peter felt his arms and legs manipulated as he was pinned to the ground, his wrist screaming in agony as a knee was ground into the bone. Then the blinding pain intensified as the lead brute started talking, "Seems your not as invincible as the boss thinks, still its our job to keep you here so I figure the best way to do that is to keep you from walking out of here." And before he could even consider the implications, a metallic bar slammed into his lower leg, once, then twice. It was on the second time that Peter felt the bone snap but a third and fourth swing guaranteed that he was not going anyway soon or quickly. He could not hold back the strangled scream that tore from his throat, he had never felt pain this badly before. As his mind slowly wandered away, he could not help but think that he was glad his dad had not heard any of that. And then the world went dark as the shock and pain finally beat him into submission.

* * *

 **That's all I have for right now! I hope you enjoyed it so far and I will be working on getting up the next chapter as quickly as I can.**

 **Have a wonderful day/night and keep being creative!**

 **\- Lily**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who favorited and followed the first chapter, it's really awesome to know that people like the story enough to be alerted when its updated. I'm going to continue to try to update as quickly as I can.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Tony stood on the end of the launch platform but there was one thing he needed to do and he could not be in the air, "FRIDAY, play the recording again." His stomach clenched as he listened to Peter's terrified voice and nervous answers but he had to focus on that voice, the one that was giving the orders. As he listened to it play through the nagging feeling of familiarity came back. That voice was to be in jail, not kidnapping students. Not taking his son. Sighing heavily, he quietly ordered, "FRIDAY, find everything you can on Justin Hammer." He knew where he needed to head, as he turned the repulsors toward the ground, "And find out why he's not still in prison?"

* * *

The flight to Queens was a quick one thanks to the suit but it was still not fast enough. As he finally emerged over the building, he anxiously studied the layout of the building, knowing he needed to get to some kind of computer terminal. He was too recognizable to just walk through the front door and he was not exactly dressed to fit in so anyone who did not recognize him would still ask questions. The roof seemed like the best place, "FRIDAY, scan the building and pay particular attention to the security measures on the roof."

They were there, of course. A few cameras and infrared scanners paired with a laser grid that probably triggered a nice surprise but it still was Hammer-tech. Each were easy enough to target with one of the various explosive or emp charges he had long ago equipped in his suit. He circled as he waited for the last of the security measures to go down before he dropped into the roof, "FRIDAY, monitor their communications and make sure no one is on their way up here."

"On it boss. I also have that information on Justin Hammer, do you want me to relay it on your heads-up display."

Tony shook his head before responding, "Not yet, did you find out where he is?"

"Not exactly, boss. It's a bit too protected to find while in the air."

"Alright, breaking in it is," He quickly fried the lock on the roof access and crept inside, the suit retracting as he moved. He pressed the nanotech glasses on so he could have FRIDAY in a more accessible place and then he crept down the stairs. He whispered, "FRIDAY, get a layout of the building and plot a path to the closest hardwired computer."

A few moments later, a schematic appeared and he took off down the stairs. He winced as the motion pulled at his leg but fear urged him on and he pushed the brace to its full capacity. Thankfully, a viable system was not too far from his location.

* * *

A sharp prick over his broken leg shook him out of unconsciousness but the continued pressure gave way to a burning as whatever they were using broke the skin. The pain of that forced his mind into overdrive and he snapped his eyes open. They darted as he tried to figure out what was happening but in his hyper-aware state, he could only take in snippets. There were restraints on his wrists. A man was standing over him with what looked like a bloody scalpel. His leg was burning. There were at least two other people in the room. There was a tourniquet around his upper arm and a pin prick of blood at his elbow. His wrist was on fire. Fear and anger seeped into his veins in equal measure and he used both of them.

Peter yanked hard on the restraints binding him, his sudden movements causing the man with the scalpel to jump back away from the table and start yelling something but the adrenaline in his veins and the overwhelming sensory input from everything else made it impossible for him to know what was said. So he ignored it and focused on the restraints. Tugging hard, he felt the satisfying pop as the restraint on his arm came free and he rolled over to free his other arm. It was then that his spider senses tingled and he jerked his good hand up with just enough time to catch a hand that had a syringe clutched in it. Twisting the offending attacker away, he pulled his good leg against the other restraint and felt it give and fall away before he felt another needle press into his skin. The plunger depressed and Peter frantically pulled at the last restraint, feeling it start to give. But then a wave of nausea hit him before his strength started to float away. He tried to grasp at it, to find it so he could finish freeing his leg but the more he tried to focus on that goal, the more slippery the thought became. He shook his head to try to clear it but immediately threw his hands up to his temples when his brain continued to spin even after he had stopped moving his head. His strength slipped away and then his ability to escape slunk after it. Peter felt himself collapse boneless against the table as a masked face leaned back over him, scalpel back in his hand. Hopelessness coursed through him in time with his pounding heartbeat when he realized that they had something that could knock even him out. He drifted off to the feeling of the sharp blade sinking again into his skin.

* * *

It took longer than he would have thought for security to figure out he was in the building. By the time FRIDAY warned him of their impending arrival he had already hacked into Justine Hammer's files and was quickly sorting through what he needed.

He was close to finding it when FRIDAY interrupted his search, "Boss, they'll be here in about three minutes…"

"I got it FRIDAY," he ground out before thinking better of his continued searching, "alright finish copying everything off her drive and start sorting it for…" he was not actually sure what she should be looking for, "look for references to enhancement, Spider-Man, Peter Parker, hell throw Justin Hammer in there too. If we find him we'll find Pete." A download screen appeared on the display as well as a countdown to the arrival of security. Tony kept looking, kept digging through the files until he saw the countdown tick under a minute. The download finished around the same time and Tony quickly wiped the evidence of his breach from the systems to the best of his abilities. He did not actually care if they knew he was there but he did not want them to know what he was looking for.

Creeping to the doorway, he cautiously peered around the corner and stole into the hallway before sliding into the stairwell. Making his way to the roof, he whispered, "Find anything yet, FRIDAY?"

He took off as she started to fill him in, "Sir, it seems as though Justin Hammer was released about five months ago. His daughter, Justine, retained control of the business but she has been slowly routing money to a new facility in Georgia. On the surface it is a new corporate headquarters but it appears as if she's been quietly turning most of the managerial aspects over to her father. I could not find any reference to Peter but there were a few emails that suggested a project to enhance a person's natural physique except it seems to be closer to the supersoldier serum than Peter's abilities."

"Focus on that, what else did it say?"

Her voice came through almost frustrated, "There is not much more than that unfortunately, it seems as though outside of those couple emails, the bulk of that project is kept on secure servers housed only in the Georgia headquarters."

"Looks like we're going to Georgia then." Tony stated, before thinking of something else, "FRIDAY, order one of the quinjets up. If Pete is at that facility, I don't want to have to wait on transport."

* * *

The first thing Peter knew recognized was that he was utterly alone. At first it was a blessing, until his mind betrayed him and reminded him exactly where he was alone.

The next thing he knew was excruciating pain. It overwhelmed him, threatened to crush him under its incredibly agonizing weight. But with his senses also came his determination. He had to keep going, had to fight past it. Had to press his exhausted mind forward before the pain became his world. He knew he won the enervating fight when he managed to open his eyes enough to take in his surroundings.

He was in another cell, same reinforced walls and same heavy door only this time there was no light, no sound, nothing. The door was sealed, apparently they had learned from his last escape attempt. Still, it did not matter, he did not have the strength to attempt another escape at this point. He barely had enough strength to even keep his eyes open. As his situation slammed into him again, he could not help the tears that leaked out of his eyes.

But before he could give in, he reminded himself of what his dad had said. He was going to get him, he was going to help him. And Peter held onto that, let the voice play over and over in his head while he lay on the cold floor. He would get out of here, he just needed to hold on until his strength came back or until he was rescued.

Eventually squashing down the panic, he tried to curl up onto his slightly less broken side to get some rest but the small movement left him screaming when his broken leg skimmed the hard floor. Panting against the pain and focusing again on his dad's voice, he stayed where he was but he could not keep the tears from leaking out of his eyes. He missed home. He missed being safe. But he reminded himself that he would be soon. That was his last thought as the exhaustion and pain finally got the better of him and he drifted off.

* * *

The flight to the facility was relatively quick but it still left Tony too much time to think. FRIDAY had relayed all the information she could find but that had only taken a few minutes, leaving Tony to stew. How had he not seen this coming? How had he not known that Hammer was out of jail? Who the hell decided it was a good idea to let him out? Then his thoughts turned to Peter and he sobered. He had been with them for too long, this entire process was taking too long. That allowed his mind to conjure up increasingly disturbing images of his son bloodied and broken on the floor of some dingy cell and fury built in his veins. He clenched the fists of the suit, desperate to hurt someone, to kill. He could not help the sickening pleasure he felt when he thought about breaking Justin Hammer's face. About killing him slowly for what he had done. And as the various ways he was going to exact his revenge blended with the horrors he knew his son was facing, Tony lost himself in thought until FRIDAY pulled him out of it.

"Boss, we're going to be there in two minutes, what's the plan?"

Tony shook himself out of his warring thoughts as he focused on what she was saying, "Find Hammer's office."

It took a few moments but a trajectory appeared on his screen and he sped toward the office that he hoped was occupied. The building quickly came into view and Tony spied the window he wanted. Ignoring subtly, he went for shock. He dropped into an approach, his mind turning to revenge as he snarled at the situation, "Give me a little more juice, FRIDAY." Then his entry window appeared in front of him. Knowing the suit could take it, Tony held his hands in front of him and careened through the window. His goal was to terrify anyone who was inside. He hovered for a moment above the shattered remains of the window before he shut down the repulsors and landed with a satisfying thud on the thick hardwood floor. He scanned the room, looking for his target before getting a heat signature cowering behind the desk. Tony let the helmet melt back into the suit as he stalked toward the person, praying he found the man responsible for all this.

Before Tony could make it behind the desk, Hammer stood quickly, nervous hands pressing down on wrinkled fabric and mussed hair as he tried to, at least visually, collect himself. He took a startled step back when he saw the suit before him but recovered relatively quickly. Holding a hand out in front of him, he tried to cover his terrified stuttered, "A…Anthony Stark, its…uh…its good to see you." He painted a fake smile on his face as he pressed a panic button under his desk. He might be terrified but he was not stupid.

Tony did not need to recover but he did need to rein in the instincts that were screaming at him to break Hammer's teeth and wipe the fake smile off his face. He needed to get a handle on his emotions now that he saw the target of his rage. So instead of speaking, he settled for an enraged snarl as he stared daggers at the man.

When Tony did not speak, Hammer held his hands up in a placating gesture, "Anthony, whoa whoa whoa, what's going on? What's with the anger? I know we haven't talked in a while but this," Hammer threw his arms out to the side, gesturing at the remains of the window, "you could have called," he quipped. Then he continued, his voice taking on the tone of a pleasant conversation, "How have you been?" While he said it, he slid his hands down to his side, pressing the button again as nerves started to take over, did the Avengers know about his little experiment?

Tony noticed the small movements under the desk, he knew Hammer was hitting a panic button and so he could not help but smirk, "What's the matter, Hammer? Are you waiting on someone?" The thinly veiled implication was enough to force the smile to slip on Hammer's face, but while the terror made him feel a bit better, Tony had not forgotten why he had slammed through the window. Redirecting the conversation, Tony growled, "Where. Is. He?"

Hammer's smile slipped farther, into something closer to fear, but the nonchalant tone did not dissolve, "Who, Anthony? What are you talking about?"

Tony heard his voice break and cursed his own weakness, "Peter. Where is he? Where is my son?" He tried to sound dangerous, furious, but as soon as he said the kid's name he could not keep the fear out of his voice.

Hammer was genuinely confused and he let it show, "Anthony I have no idea what you're talking about? I didn't even know you had a son and if I did why would I take him?" The man lilted the word 'him' while trying to understand what Tony was saying to him. Tony Stark, the Tony Stark had a son?

The end of the word was raised in such an exaggerated way that the worry that had made Tony's voice break mutated into icy anger. In response to the obvious lie, Tony ordered, "FRIDAY, play Pete's last call." The tension in the room ratcheted up as the terrified whispers of the kid cut through the tense silence before Hammer's voice rang through clearly. Tony took a limping step forward as Peter's cries of pain abruptly ended, shrugging his shoulders a bit in the suit as his arm started to bug him again, but he never took his eyes off Hammer, "Tell me again how you don't know what I'm talking about."

Hammer nervously chuckled, "That's not me, Anthony. It doesn't sound anything like me and I didn't even know you…" He stopped talking with a strangled sound of surprise.

Done with the lies, Tony lunged forward, wrapping his hands around Hammer's neck and pinning him against the wall. He had to fight to keep himself from strangling him right there, "You took my son, Hammer. You kidnapped him, you tortured him, and you were stupid enough to think I wouldn't find him."

Hammer scrambled at the hands around his throat, trying to talk around the pressure, "Didn't mean…to – I just…I needed a breakthrough and his genetic code is unique, unlike anything else in the world…didn't know he was you – your son."

"And…what? If he wasn't that would make this okay?" Tony snarled in response. The stupidity of this man was starting to piss him off more than anything, "Too bad for you, he is mine and trust me when I tell you that you will pay for what you did to him. As it is, you're lucky I need you to find him, Hammer. If I didn't, this building would be piled on your head." He leaned closer, pressing his body into the hand and causing Hammer's eyes to bulge in panic. Smirking dangerously at the reaction he continued, "I'm going to make you an offer. You tell me where he is and I beat the shit out of you but you get to live. Or you can continue to pretend you don't know and I beat the shit out of you until I get the answers I want, then I leave you to die. Your choice." He growled. Then Tony released the hold he had on Hammer's neck just enough for him to pull in enough air to answer.

Hammer scratched at the metallic hand, trying to find just a little more give in the suit's strangling hold. When he finally managed to catch a breath, he tried to reason with the man, "Tony…Tony please we can talk about this. His powers are…"

"Wrong answer," Tony snarled. The metal gloved hand closed solidly around his neck again and he pressed him farther up the bookcase, holding him there until his eyes started to flutter. Tony waited until Hammer was dangerously close to passing out before he released the pressure, "Want to try that again?" He snapped.

"Alright…alright, I'll tell you." Hammer gasped.

Tony let him down but only moved his hand to the man's shoulder, just in case he needed to continue being persuasive, "Where, Hammer?" He reveled in the pleasure he felt when Hammer cowered away from his tone, pressing farther into the bookshelf.

"Its an old research facility in Northampton." He squeaked, bringing a hand up to massage the back of his neck, the red and blue marks left by the metallic hands were already forming.

"Take me." Tony ordered.

Hammer looked up at him with fear as he nervously stuttered, "That wasn't part of the deal Stark…"

"Too bad I'm the one in the suit." He quipped before he slammed his gloved fist down on the side of Hammer's head, knocking him out cold. Snatching up a handful of fabric, Tony dragged him to the broken window, "FRIDAY, where's the jet?" She quickly relayed the information and Tony took off.

* * *

 **That's the next chapter, I hope you liked it! I don't know why but I had to do Hammer, he was the first bad guy that came to mind when the idea for this story popped into my head. I just hope I did him justice.**

 **A note for the comment on his daughter, Justine Hammer is not technically in the MCU (I don't think) but she is in the comics and I figured whoever took over Hammer Industries had to have some connection to Hammer in order to bring him back and make this type of story plausible.**

 **I hope you enjoyed it and I'll keep working on getting the next chapter up soon.**

 **As always have a good day/night and stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Next chapter is up and I hope you enjoy it.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has been favoriting and following this story and a special shout out to AvengersFan30** **who has been leaving me some lovely reviews. Thank you so much, its really appreciated!**

 **So without further ado, here you go!**

* * *

The crashing sound of too loud music woke him instantly as it assaulted his ears and made it impossible to focus on even the wall in front of him, let alone think any coherent thoughts. Immediately, he opened his eyes only to be met with pitch darkness while the music thumped in the background. After only a few short seconds, his ears started to ring in time with the music while his heart tried to beat out of his chest and his breaths came in quick gasps as his body attempted to compensate for the sensory overload. He tried to curl into a ball, pressing his hands against his ears in a futile attempt to stop the music but it did not work. Instead, he felt the hair on the back of his neck and arms raise as his mind warned him of an incoming threat, barely registering louder than the cacophony.

Peter sensed the attack coming and reacted instinctually. He rolled out of the way, his broken body screaming at the movement, before a boot slammed down on the cement floor at his back. A loud curse somehow broke through the music and reached his ears. Then the panic hit him, there were people in here with him. He knew he needed to get on his feet, needed to get to a place where he could defend himself but his leg was barely starting to knit together and he had no idea how it would hold up with even minimum weight.

But when he was forced to roll away quickly after two more successive strikes, he knew he needed to press an attack. He could not just give in.

Blocking out everything he could, he let his senses take over and he managed to roll onto his feet, heavily favoring his unbroken leg he managed to strike out with his good hand and felt it connect with the person closest to him. He could not hear the reaction over the music but he felt bone give under his fist. Peter blocked three more bouts before driving his fist into one of his attackers' knees before shuffling backward, trying to put his back against a wall for at least some protection. Maybe if he could get up to the ceiling they would just leave him be?

He threw an elbow behind him before sensing the path open up as the attacker smacked into the wall. Peter slid his broken leg behind him and braced it to take some weight. When it was about as secure as it was going to get, he blocked another attack and shifted back, his hand colliding with the wall. He gave a choked sob as he realized this might work. Turning quickly, he scrambled up the wall with his three good appendages. He was almost out of range of his when one of them jumped and managed to wrap a hand around the ankle on his bad leg. Peter felt his world go white as the guy yanked, hard. The abruptness of the shocking pain made his empty stomach roll and he lost his grip on the wall, landing on his back. The breath was driven from his lungs. But before he could catch his breath, one of them brought a foot down on his face and he felt the cartilage of his nose crumple under the assault. Almost immediately, a metallic scent overwhelmed his olfactory senses and he gagged on the blood as the blows continued to fall. Peter was able to block a few hits and even managed to break a couple bones, but he knew he was not going to be able to get back up.

They beat him senseless, only leaving after he had curled into a ball and stopped fighting back. Peter barely recognized the blows stopping. It was only after the horrendous music cut out that he realized it was finally over. He could not move, did not have the strength to even lift his arm let alone get himself into a slightly more comfortable position, and even less to fight the despair growing in his mind. He could not help the traitorous thought that FRIDAY must not have been find him, if she had, he would not still be here. He tried to clear the thought from his mind, tried to blank it out, but it did not quite disappear. So instead, he just laid there, unable to move, shivering in a pool of his own blood in a pitch black and overwhelmingly silent cell.

But he was not left there for long as another sound pricked his ears. It was the sound of wheels. Then the door opened again and whatever the wheeled thing was, it was inching closer. Then he felt rough hands under his shoulders and knees as someone picked him up and laid him none to gently on the wheeled bed. For a moment, his mind convinced him his dad had finally found him and he was getting out of here and then he felt straps pulled across his torso, arms, and legs before the bed started to move. He felt his stomach roll again when he realized he was going back to the room with the man with the scalpel.

Knowing that whatever was going to happen was going to be horrendous, Peter gave in to the unconsciousness tugging at the back of his mind.

* * *

The flight to Northampton was relatively short, just like his flight to Georgia, still that did nothing to placate Tony's mood. He was wound tight, nearly vibrating in the seat as he alternated between watching the distance countdown on the quinjet's screen and stopping himself from throttling Hammer. He wrung his hands and tried to pace but none of it alleviated the fear and anger. He paced back to the front and slumped down into the seat to spend another few minutes staring at the flight data when FRIDAY's voice finally cut through the silence, "Boss, we're about fifteen minutes out, what would you like me to do?"

Tony nearly tripped over his feet to stand and move to the med kit, "Start scanning for the building and drop down just above their radar range, I don't want them to know we're here yet." Then he snatched what he needed out of the kit and stalked back over to Hammer, "I'll get the rest of the information we need."

The only partially unfortunate circumstance of the fast flight was that Hammer was still out cold when he needed information. But Tony had a plan for that. Breaking the smelling salts as he stepped up to the co-pilot chair, Tony shoved the packet under his nose. As Hammer snapped up, he yanked his hands with him, the handcuffs cut into his wrists and Tony could not help the pleased smirk that came with that realization.

Hammer sat looking at him for a moment with a confused expression as he scrunched his nose while snot ran a bit onto his top lip, "Wh-what the hell was that?"

The dazed expression spoke of a concussion and the blossoming blue and black bruise on his head was a testament to how hard Tony hit him but he had to keep himself from doing more. Instead, he hardened his tone, "Morning Hammer. We're almost at Northampton, now tell me how to get into the facility."

Confusion and irritation warred for dominance, "How do you even know where it is?" But the irritation won, "It's shielded."

Tony just sighed heavily, frustration building, "Hammer you could not figure out how to build a suit that matched even my first model, please don't pretend to imagine that you could create any type of cloaking mechanism that would beat my sensors. Especially when I'm particularly motivated." He leaned in on the armrests of the seat, "I'm going to ask you one more time, how do I get in? I would prefer to not have to kill everyone inside."

Hammer swallowed hard but did not relent, "Anthony, can't we just…"

This time Tony did not let him finish the statement before he put his both fists in the man's gut in quick succession. When he was wheezing, Tony took over, "Hammer, I thought we were over this. I'm not going to make a deal with you," he snarled as he slammed another fist into his chest, smirking at the obvious pain. "I'm not going to let you have him any longer than you already have," he accented the point with another jab to the stomach. As the man slumped over his midsection, unable to move his hands to protect himself, Tony continued, his voice dangerous, "I don't mind killing everyone but I would prefer to get my son quickly. So tell me the way in." He finished his demand with another punch to the stomach, sickeningly satisfied in the knowledge that it would bruise badly.

Hammer coughed as he caught his breath, "Okay, okay Anthony. I'll tell you." He collected himself before continuing, "You'll need to go through the South entrance and head to the second elevator bank. Take the first elevator down to the basement. There you will see a door with a keypad and fingerprint authentication, you'll need either mine or one of the oth-"

"I'll take care of it. Just tell me where to go and I'll deal with your security measures."

Hammer scowled but seemed to think better of arguing, "Once you're down the stairs you'll have to find him. He could be anywhere in the basement of the facility, I'm not sure where he is right now."

Tony scoffed at the information but figured he would have to make due plus FRIDAY's announcement that they were dropping down meant that he needed to focus, "This is your last chance, Hammer, tell me anything else I need to know."

"That's it, I swear."

"Fine," he grumbled, before he grabbed Hammer by the hair and brought his fist down onto his face, knocking him out again. Checking the restraints once more, he took off toward the facility.

* * *

By the time they finished poking him and cutting him, the drug had only started to wear off and Peter knew he would be back in his cell before he would be able to fight back. He felt the return ride and he felt them drop him unceremoniously on the ground at the back of the cell. All he could do was roll over and curl into himself. He did not have the strength to do anything else. He heard the door slam shut behind them and listened as the bed was wheeled back down the hallway, until it fell away from even his hearing. And he curled as fully as he could, for the first time he could not choke back the fear that he might actually die here.

* * *

It did not take Tony long to make it down into the basement Hammer was talking about, the security systems on the way down were a bit more sophisticated than what he expected but still nothing he could not handle.

Searching was a bit more tedious, "FRIDAY, show me all heat signatures." Without a word, the location of the warm bodies appeared on his screen. He stepped back into the stairwell as he studied their locations. The majority of the signatures were moving around, pacing or walking somewhere. A couple were sitting but there was one that was lying down. Tony knew without a doubt that was Peter. But then he looked a bit harder at the location and realized there were two men standing near to what he assumed was the room Peter was in. Stealth had never been one of Tony's strong suits but he wanted his son out before he even thought of bringing the building down on anyone's head so he crept toward the heat signatures, "FRIDAY, be ready to lock on to at least two hostiles as soon as we get within range."

"Got it, boss." The AI whispered back, matching Tony's quiet tone.

The problem with the heat signatures was that he still did not know the layout of the basement so he spent far too long down the wrong hallway only to realize that the signature he wanted was one over. Frustration made him want to run but practicality told him it was better to wait. Adjusting for the hallway, Tony finally found the one he needed to head down. As the two guards came into view, without an order, FRIDAY killed the men with two bullets. They both dropped heavily but when sounds of alarm were not immediately sounded, Tony assumed he was good. Stepping up to the door where he could see the signature beyond, he heaved the offending obstacle out of the way and stepped into the room. He could see the signature beyond but he did not want to scare the kid, "Pete? Pete, is that you?"

Tony slid out of the suit and ordered it into sentinel mode, he wanted to make sure Peter was alright without any interruption.

As soon as the suit was set, Tony ran to the human ball in the corner. "Oh god, Peter," he breathed out. The kid was curled, arms wrapped tightly around his chest. Tony knelt beside him, laying a hand on his shoulder and squeezing slightly, trying to get the kid's attention without scaring him. Instead Peter just shuddered and twisted away from the touch. But Tony did not relent, instead he left his hand there and tried talking to him, "Pete, its me, its dad."

At the quiet voice and the moniker, the kid's head lazily rolled to the side, one eye pulling against the mucus and blood that had dried at the corners. He scrunched his head back as he tried to take in more of the man who was leaning over him and his eye lit up with a hint of recognition. Then his weak, scratchy voice cut through the silent cell, "Dad?"

Tony coughed out a sob, "Yah its me, kid." He left his hand on Peter's shoulder so when he rolled back farther, he had something to lean against. But when he did start to roll back, Tony was able to see what they had done to him. His wrist with the watch had been shattered. It was sitting at an unnatural angle and while a few broken pieces of the watch face were still resolutely stuck to the band, it was covered in blood. His once light grey science shirt was now red shirt, clearly Peter had dealt with more than was on the surface. His leg was mangled and there were various slash, cut, and puncture marks across his arms. Both his eyes were black and his nose had been crushed, making it difficult for him to breath and leaving him wheezing through his mouth. And Tony did not even want to think about the injuries the clothes hanging off of him were hiding. But his observations were shut down when Peter demanded his attention.

Everything hurt. Down to his toes, he hurt, he was exhausted, and he just wanted out. Peter could kind of see his dad looking him over, a disgusted look on his face but he really needed his attention. Forcing words passed his lips, he managed to pathetically squeak out, "Leave, please?"

"Of course, Peter. Whatever you want." Tony sobbed, desperate to give the kid anything. He wanted so badly to be able to pick Peter up but he knew he could not, there is no way he would have the strength to hold him without the suit. Refusing to get up from his son's side, Tony tapped a few times on his wrist and waited for the suit to enclose him again. He left the helmet down though, wincing as he explained, "Pete, I'm sorry but I have to use the suit."

Peter just nodded, he knew his dad could not lift him and he would take anything to get out of the cell. Unfortunately, he regretted that as soon as the metallic arms slid under his abused body. He tried to bite his tongue, he knew his dad would feel guilty if he screamed but he was so tired and he just could not help it. He screamed as he was shifted, his leg and arm felt like they were on fire and his chest felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. He just wanted to go home. He turned his head toward his dad's shoulder as he waves of nausea sweep through him and he dry heaved a few times against the cool metal of the suit. Then he felt one of the weirder things ever. The nanobots slowly started to crawl up his body too, encasing him in a protective shell that he noticed also kept him from being jostled too much. As the bots settled into place, his dad's voice kept him grounded, "It's alright, Pete. I gotcha. I didn't exactly clear the building so the suit is a precaution."

But as Tony started to walk again, he felt Peter start to shiver and whimper at what he could only assume was pain he was causing. Stopping just before the door, Tony quietly asked, "Pete, what's wrong?"

His dad's terrified tone cut through the comfort he was finally feeling and he realized that he was shivering. Peter wanted so badly to say nothing but he could not find the energy to lie, "'m cold, da'." As soon as he said it, the internal heater kicked on and Peter immediately felt better.

Tony had to crush the fear that rose with that comment, he needed to get his kid home as soon as possible and he knew it, "Is that better, Pete?"

"Ya, thanks." He slipped farther into the comfort of the suit as he let himself float for a while. And for the first time in a few days, he felt safe. His dad would protect him.

Tony walked as carefully as he could out of the facility, trying to avoid any guards and keep Peter as still as he could. Bleeding Edge had compensated, covering Peter in a suit much like his own but he still wanted to be careful. And by some miracle they made it out and he took off toward the quinjet.

As soon as his feet touched down on the floor, Tony laid Peter down carefully on one of the medical bunks and left the suit on him so it would heal what injuries it could. Then he turned back to the pilot's chair. Sparing a glance at Hammer as he programed the quinjet to head back to the Compound, the man was still out cold so Tony checked his restraints and headed back to Peter.

* * *

 **Well Tony finally got Peter back but unfortunately that is definitely not the end of the story.**

 **Please let me know what you thought of the chapter!**

 **I hope everyone has a wonderful day/evening and keep being creative!**

 **-Lily**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here you are my amazing readers, chapter 4 is up!**

 **Thank you again to everyone who has favorited, followed, and reviewed my story, its always awesome to know that you guys are enjoying it and I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations.**

 **Also as a disclaimer, I do not work in the medical field so any of the medical things in this chapter or any other chapters come from google research so I'm hoping its at least plausible. But for anything I messed up, I'm sorry!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

As Tony walked back to the bed, the first thing he noticed was that the helmet was no longer on his son's head. Tony watched the lazy brown eyes turn toward him as he crouched down next to Peter. The pain in those soft eyes caused Tony's chest to tighten and he wanted nothing more than pull his hair and scream at the stupidity of it all. But he needed to focus on Peter so instead, he dropped a hand on the chest of the suit and the other into Peter's hair as he slowly brushed his son's grimy hair back, feeling the knots on his kid's head. In the light of the quinjet, the visible bruises seemed deeper, contrasting painfully against the small patches of pale skin on his face. The agony in Tony's chest grew and he could not help but start talking, "God, Pete. I'm so sorry." He dropped his head to his chest even as he continued running his hand through his son's hair, trying desperately to give some small comfort even while he regretted the immense comfort he was taking in the action. He knew he did not deserve any comfort for what he had allowed to happen. But almost immediately as that thought crossed his mind, a metallic hand under his chin forced him to lift his head.

Peter could not stand thinking that his dad blamed himself for any of what happened. Reaching a shaking hand out, he carefully placed it under the man's chin and lifted it so he was looking at him, "This isn't your fault, dad. You saved me."

"But not fast enough." Tears started to build in his bloodshot eyes, "Pete, what they did to you…" His voice was strained, desperate.

Peter could not let him finish that sentence, instead slowly shaking his head and repeating, "was not your fault." He looked his dad in the eyes just to make sure he understood before continuing, "Thank you for saving me." He tried to smile, as gruesome as he knew it had to be given the way the movement pulled at the bruises and cuts on his face. Still, it was worth it when his dad gave him a small smirk. Peter relaxed farther at that, the knowledge that he was safe finally sinking in and his exhaustion finally catching up. He unconsciously tried to shift and get comfortable when he realized how unused to his dad's suit he was. Looking up again, he asked, "Can you…uh…do I have to keep wearing this?"

Tony shook his head, "Not if you don't want to but I thought it was keeping you warm."

"Blankets are good at that too." Peter hummed, earning another small smirk from his dad, two for two, he congratulated himself.

Tony gave him a small smirk before answering, "Whatever you want, Pete." Immediately, he tapped the nanobot storage on the wrist sitting on Peter's chest and watched as the suit slowly retracted. "Is that better?" Tony asked, the desperation to make something better was clear in his tone as he stood to retrieve one of the heavy blankets stored above the bed. When Peter hummed his acceptance of the warmth, Tony tucked him in carefully and crouched next to him again, running his hand back through Peter's hair, "Why don't you try to get some sleep, I'm not going anywhere."

The young man mumbled his agreement as he closed his eyes for only a few moments before he opened them again quickly, catching his dad's attention, "Can you sit with me? The pillow isn't comfortable."

Tony could not help but smile, actually smile this time. Tapping on the wrist guards, Bleeding Edge retracted the rest of the way as he stiffly stood and lifted his son partially off the bed, offering his thigh in the place of the apparently uncomfortable pillow.

Peter wasted no time pressing his head back into his dad's leg, he still hurt like hell but at least he was safe. He drew in a stuttered breath, frowning slightly at how difficult it was but chalked it up to his surely broken ribs. Instead he pressed it to the back of his mind and tried to enjoy the feeling of his dad's hand in his hair, while the other offered a grounding presence where it rested lightly on his chest.

Tony could not help the warmth that spread through his chest when his son relaxed into his grasp and he wrapped his arms around the kid's frame, pulling him as close as he could while still being careful not to jostle him too much. For the rest of the flight, Tony resolved to focus solely on Peter, pressing the presence of Hammer out of his mind for at least a little while.

* * *

Tony sat pressed against the metal of the quinjet, dozing. FRIDAY had been giving regular reports of distance and he knew they were close, so close to safety when suddenly Peter's breath started to hitch under his hand. The awkward motion forced his mind into awareness as his son's chest bucked slightly. Then Peter's arm shot up and latched onto Tony's sleeve. The older man immediately looked into his son's eyes and saw the panic but before he could ask what was wrong, Peter beat him to it. "Da'…da' – ca't…ca't breathe. Ca't breathe…" His eyelids fluttered before he managed to refocus them as he started gasping for breath.

Tony nearly lost it. Then he looked down at his son and took a deep breath before sliding out from under Peter's head and stumbling over to the medical drawer. At the same time, he demanded answers, "FRIDAY, what's wrong?" As he started digging through the medical supplies, searching for something that could help.

The ever calming voice answered his frantic request, "One of his broken ribs have punctured a lung."

He continued to dig, knowing what he needed to look for now, "Why didn't you catch that?" Tony was angry but he knew it was not the AI's fault.

"I did, boss. The medics at base knew to prepare for it but there was no way of knowing if it would collapse before we made it back," She sounded sad as she continued, "I recommend letting me monitor his health through the suit, sir."

Tony paused for a just a brief moment as he considered that. Finally pulling what he wanted out of the drawer, he pulled off one of the wrist guards before darting back over to his struggling kid. Snapping the nanobot housing on his wrist, he turned Peter as gently as he could to his side, carefully moving his arm away from his chest and sliding his shirt up. His ribs were painfully visible but it made it easy for Tony to quickly feel along his ribcage and press the scalpel in just above the bone. Tony saw the discomfort and fear flash across his son's face as the blade pierced the skin, but he knew if he paid too much attention to that fear, it would paralyze him so he kept moving. Once the incision was deep enough, Tony pressed a wide tube with a valve on the end into the space he had created. Immediately, the hitching breaths Peter had been taking started to ease. But when Tony finally looked at him, he could see the tears in Peter's eyes. Needing the contact, Tony laid a hand on the top of Peter's head and the other on his chest before pressing a quick kiss to his hairline. Taking one last, deep breath, he knelt and pressed his forehead against his son's. He felt Peter close his eyes and relax into the touch, his breath sounding a little easier. "I've gotcha, Pete. I promise," he whispered.

After a few moments, Tony pulled back and looked him in the eye, swallowing as much fear as he could, he resolved to keep the kid awake. Forcing himself to smile, he started to talk to him, watching as Peter opened his hooded eyes, "Do you know how happy Morgan is going to be when he sees you? He talks about you all the time, you know." Tony saw a small smile creep across his oldest son's face and he continued, "Pepper caught him dressing up like Spider-Man the other day. She took pictures to show you, I'm sure she'll have them at the Compound. She's going to bring him by." But Peter's eyes start to flutter closed and Tony had to fight the panic in his voice, "but you have to stay awake if you want to see him." And the brown eyes he was desperate to keep open locked onto his again, "There you go Pete. Just keep looking at me. We'll be there soon." His one sided conversation lagged for a minute when he asked FRIDAY for an update, "How long until we get there?"

"Eight minutes, boss." The Irish voice intoned, Tony could almost swear he heard worry in her tone.

"Push the engines as hard as you can." He snapped, letting the fear he refused to direct at Peter out on the AI, surely FRIDAY had thought of that already?

The answering tone was still annoyingly calm, "They're at maximum now."

"Then push them beyond maximum." It was a curt order as Tony turned back to Peter, hand continuing to comb at his hair. "Hear that, Pete? We'll be back soon and then we'll get you fixed up." Tony could tell he was trying so hard to hold on, his hooded eyes dropping lower every moment, "Come on, Pete. You have to stay with me, just stay awake for a little longer. Please?" He could hear his voice cracking and Peter reacted to the terror in his tone, forcing his eyes open a little wider. "There you go, kid." Tony held his gaze, willing with everything he had that Peter would stay awake.

And he managed to, for a bit.

* * *

Peter had finally been comfortable, he was finally safe. And he let that feeling swell through him.

He dozed and reveled in the warmth until a vice felt like it was suddenly closed around his chest. He tried to pull in a breath but it would not come, it was like the vice was keeping him from even attempting to breathe. Immediately, he snapped his eyes open and grabbed for the one person who could help him. His good arm shot up and caught his dad's sleeve, pulling and twisting at the fabric, trying to get his attention. Then he saw his dad's frantic face above him and he tried to explain what was going on.

But then his comfort disappeared and he panicked but he could not pull in enough breath to demand he came back. He felt his lungs start to burn as his body bucked, trying to pull in enough air to function. Then Peter felt himself carefully turned on his side but he knew it was his dad so relaxed. Or at least that's what he though until he felt the bite of a blade pierce his skin. His quickly fogging mind threw him back into that cell. They were hurting him again. They were cutting him and poking him but this time he could not pull enough air into his lungs to fight back. The panic amplified his desperation and he felt his heartbeat kick into his throat as the hopelessness of it all threatened to overwhelm him.

Then something else was pressed into the deep cut and almost immediately he began to feel better. It was easier to take a breath and he felt his mind come back to him. The fog slowly dissipated and he was able to remind himself where he was. Then the familiar hand was back in his hair and a forehead was pressed against his. The motion was recognizable and comfortable, he was not back in the cell, he was safe, he was with his dad. As if in confirmation, the deep voice he knew so well carried through the cabin, forcing his attention. And he tried so hard to give it. He wanted to listen but he was so tired. So incredibly tired. He listened for as long as he could until he could not force himself to pay attention anymore. He actively knew his attention was fading but this time it was not a drug that did it. Even though he still tried to grab at it the same way. But he lost the battle. He could not keep his eyes open and his chest was becoming painful again. He felt his heart start to flutter as he tried to focus on his dad's voice but no amount of will was going to ensure his body obeyed.

* * *

Peter's head lulled, the grimy hair turning against Tony's hand, as those brown eyes disappeared, "Pete? Pete, are you still with me?" But the kid did not answer. Tony felt his anxiety starting to catch in his throat as he battled to breathe while pressing his hand to Peter's neck and searching for a pulse, it was there but it was thready and weak.

FRIDAY's voice interrupted the relative comfort of even a slow pulse, "Boss, his heart is going to stop, you need to be prepared for that."

"What the hell are you talking about, FRIDAY?" Tony responded wildly, his brain already spinning as he tried to figure out what he was going to do if what she said happened.

"His heart is beating too slowly to keep him alive, it's an unnatural rhythm and it will continue to worsen to the point where you will have to act but I do not know exactly when." The calm voice was meant to be comforting but instead it just made her announcement even worse.

Tony could not help the fleeting thought that he really needed to give her a few more settings than perpetual calm, but he shook his head and focused, "Okay, so what do I do to stop that?"

"There is nothing you can do here, you will just need to be prepared to stabilize him if it happens before we make it to the compound."

Tony was already pulling on the gloves of the suit, the repulsors worked well as defibrillation pads, but the thought that he was just sitting and waiting for his son's heart to fail made him sick, "Alright, how long until we get there?"

"Five minutes, boss." Without being asked, the AI played the increasingly slowing rhythm through the cabin's speakers. It somehow sounded worse to hear it amplified with the knowledge that it would eventually stop. Why couldn't Peter ever catch a break? He could take more than other people but this was just asking for too much.

Crushing down the panic, Tony ordered, "FRIDAY, relay everything to the med team on standby and call Pepper, tell her she needs to get down to the Compound as soon as she can and have her call May too. We need to let her know."

Then it was quiet with only the slowing heartbeat pounding too hard in the background. Tony felt like the world slowed down, like everything was centered on this one sound and its continuation. He felt like he was waiting with bated breath, then the morbid thought hit him that he was watching his son die with no way to fix it. He pressed his gloved hands back into Peter's hair and stared at him but talked to his AI, "How long, FRIDAY?"

"Three minutes, boss."

Almost as if that announcement triggered something, the beat stuttered abnormally. It started and stopped before it sputtered again and for a split second Tony could not comprehend it, "FRIDAY, wha', what's happ…?"

But she overrode him, "Boss, his...his heart is no longer functioning properly. You need to do something to keep it beating."

Tony nearly threw up but that was not useful so instead he quickly charged the repulsors, reminding himself he was ready for this. He felt the tears building in the corner of his eyes as he sent what would otherwise be dangerous voltage through his son's chest. As soon as the charge dissipated, Tony listened for the rhythm to come back. He heard a few weak beats but they quickly stuttered and then stopped completely this time. Twice more, Tony had to shock his heart back into rhythm before the soft, slow thrum filled the cabin again. As soon as it held, Tony nearly collapsed, letting the tears start to fall as he tried to comfort him again.

It took a bit longer than a minute for the quinjet to touch down at the Avenger's Compound and as the door lowered, the med team swarmed in. Tony was pulled back from the bed as they attached electrodes Peter's chest and slid him off the bunk before rushing him away to repair the damage Hammer had done. It was only as they ran out of the cabin that the slow heartbeats Tony had been relying on disappeared. Sound gone, Tony numbly followed the path they had taken into the medbay before dropping heavily into the chair closest to the outside of the operating theater. He dropped his head into his bloodied hands and tried to hold the tears back until he knew something.

* * *

Steve rolled his shoulder, working out the kinks Natasha's dislocation had caused. It had not been a particularly painful injury but he figured that since he was at the compound it was best to let someone with medical training fix it. As he was leaving though, he happened to glance into the room just outside the operating theater. There should not have been anyone there but there was. Someone was crumpled in a chair with their head in their hands. Steve recognized him instantly. Tugging the door open, his commanding tone echoed across the empty room, "Tony?"

Tony heard his name but did not want to respond, instead left his head in his hands and focused on breathing. He just hoped that the annoyance would go away. But Cap was nothing if not persistent. Tony could not help but groan when he heard footsteps moving toward him instead of a door opening and closing behind him.

Standing above him, Steve looked down at the hunched figure, "Tony?" He crouched in front of him, "What's wrong?"

Tony did not look up, but his voice was exhausted, "Steve, please go away. I just need a minute, okay?"

The Captain contemplated him, quietly taking in the silent figure in front of him and trying to decide the next course of action. He thought about leaving, about telling someone else but something made him stay. Taking up the seat next to Tony, Steve resolved to wait until the other man was ready to talk to him.

They sat in silence for a while. Tony sat with his head in his hands and Steve sat resolutely next to him. Eventually, it was Tony who broke the silence, "I need you to do something for me."

Thankful that he was saying something, Steve controlled the earnestness in his response, "What do you need?"

Tony's voice was dangerously hard and unwavering when answered, "Take one of the quinjets, tell FRIDAY to take you to the Northampton facility, and arrest or kill everyone in that building." The look in his eyes was nearly as disconcerting as his words.

Steve paused and leaned back in the chair, rubbing his hands down his legs before rocking forward again and trying to figure out how to handle the clearly upset man in front of him. Unease began to build as he realized something was desperately wrong but he also knew he needed some actual information before he could do any of that, "Tony I can't do that. I can't just go arrest or kill an entire building of people because you told me to, you know that. You need to tell me what is going on if you want me to do something even remotely close to that."

Tony looked up at him with a pained but, surprisingly, understanding look. He took a deep breath and told Steve what he needed to know in order to get it taken care of, "The people at that facility hurt Pete. I couldn't deal with them because I had to get him out. I need you do that for me so they don't get away with what they did." Tony watched Steve straighten immediately when Peter's name was brought into the conversation.

Steve snapped back against the chair as he tried to comprehend what Tony had just told him. If what Tony said was only somewhat hyperbole, whoever was in that facility would pay dearly. The anger was clear in his tone when he asked for a little more clarification, "They hurt Peter? How?"

Tony pressed ahead, knowing that Steve would take care of this, the others loved the kid almost as much as he did, "I promise I will explain everything when you get back but what you need to know is that they took him and they hurt him. They hurt him badly, Steve. I can't leave right now, I need to be here when he comes out. I'm asking you to take care of the people who went after him because I can't." He ran his hands through his hair before staring down the First Avenger.

Steve watched the worry set in his friend's shoulders and felt his own rage start to boil. Laying his hand on his shoulder, Steve still managed to control his emotions, even as he promised, "I'll deal with them, Tony."

"Thank you," Tony responded honestly, taking a sickening pleasure in knowing that the men under Hammer's employ would pay for what they had done.

Steve stood reluctantly, leaving his hand on Tony's shoulder as he planned out the next few steps. He was torn because he did not want to leave Tony alone to stew in the blame he would inevitably take on but he also could not allow the situation to stand. He halfheartedly removed his hand and headed out of the bay to grab Natasha, Bucky, and anyone else he could find. As he jogged through the compound, he solved his other problem, "FRIDAY, tell Rhodes to head down to the medbay."

* * *

 **So there you go, another chapter down! I hope it did not drag too much, I just felt like even Spider-Man can't go through something like that without some repercussions. But please let** **me know what you thought!**

 **I hope you have a wonderful day/night and as always, stay creative!**

 **\- Lily**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's chapter 5 for you guys!**

 **I think I've said this for the last few chapters but I wanted to say thank you again to everyone who is still reading and favoriting and reviewing, it's always really awesome to see so thank you!**

 **Let me know what you think. Enjoy!**

* * *

Ross was blathering on about legal ramifications for an action Tony had taken sometime in the last few days, but to be honest, Rhodes was only partially listening. He got the jist though. Apparently Tony had taken some kind of flight that he had not bothered to register with the FAA, but the incredibly short reason for the phone call was dragged out as Ross kept railing about the billionaire's disregard for propriety or legal requirements. It seemed like a stupid conversation to be having when Tony been an integral part of saving the world multiple times over, but Rhodes let Ross talk. It usually took him about thirty minutes to run out of air and then the Colonel would promise to talk to Tony about his test runs until the next time one of the Avengers inevitably did something to piss the Secretary off and then he would be here again. But this time the voice stopped prematurely and Rhodes started to pay attention. He looked up when Ross's voice cut out, and noticed that the hologram continued to talk. Then the infinitely calmer voice of FRIDAY patched herself in over the Secretary, "Colonel Rhodes, your presence is requested in the medbay."

Immediately on edge and guiltily thankful for the interruption, Rhodes turned his attention to the AI, "What's going on FRIDAY?"

"Mr. Stark needs your help," the soft voice explained.

As soon as FRIDAY's voice ended, Ross's still speaking mouth finally matched the voice but he seemed to notice he was being ignored and his haughty tone confirmed it, "Colonel Rhodes, have you been listening to anything I've said?"

"No, sir." Rhodey answered honestly before turning his back on the Secretary and throwing over his shoulder, "I've got to go." There was some kind of retort to that but Rhodes did not hear it as he moved as quickly as he could toward the elevator.

* * *

Rhodes hurried through the familiar halls of the medbay, fear building in the back of his mind the more he thought about the reason why he was there, especially since Tony was not even supposed to be in the state for a few more months. He pressed the door to the waiting room open, immediately looking for a nurse or someone who could tell him what was going on when instead he saw Tony sitting with his head in his hands, his clothes disheveled and stained. The chair next to him was empty so Rhodes claimed it. Worry growing exponentially when Tony did not react to his presence. Rhodes lingered for a moment, something in him kept him from being flippant like he normally would. Hesitating for a bit longer, he eventually draped his arm over Tony's shoulder and keeping his voice low, asked, "What can I do, Tony?"

Tony had not even realized someone had sat down until he felt an arm around his shoulders. Then Rhodey's voice broke his self-imposed mental isolation and he jumped at the proximity, knocking his friend's arm as he shifted in the chair. His eyes locked onto Rhodes's and he immediately felt bad when his friend yanked his arm away, awkwardly laying it in his lap. Tony relaxed a bit when he realized who was sitting next to him but as his mind caught up, he found himself unable to answer that particular question.

Rhodey recognized Tony's unease even after he saw the identification in his eyes. In an attempt to make him feel better, Rhodes leaned forward a bit, matching Tony's slumped posture and he changed the question, instead quietly intoning, "What happened?"

Tony almost bit his tongue to keep quiet but then got angry for even thinking that, Rhodey would understand. About as quickly as he could admonish himself, he was already spilling the story without actually realizing it, "Hammer." Well kind of spilling the story.

"Hammer?" Rhodes gave him a quizzical look while he turned the name over in his head, "Hammer?" He repeated. And it was obvious the moment it clicked, "Wait, Justin Hammer?" And when Tony just nodded, Rhodes added, "I thought he was in prison."

"So did I," Tony quipped bitterly.

"Okay," Rhodes paused for a moment trying to wrap him mind around the information, "so Justin Hammer is not in jail anymore but why does that put you in the medbay? You seem like you're in one piece…" Rhodey tried to lighten the situation but trailed off at the dismayed look Tony threw him.

"It wasn't me he went after this time, it was Pete." But as soon as Tony saw the confused look on his friend's face he realized the terrible explanations he was providing. He tried to clarify, "Hammer took him and he hurt him. I just got him back and he needed more help than I could give, so I brought him here."

"He took Peter?" The anger was clear in Rhodey's voice and the frustration grew as he processed the implications, "He hurt him? Why the hell would he do that? Was he trying to get to you? To get to the Avengers? Wait, how did he know who he was?" It was a lot of questions at once and he wanted to ask more but instead, he clenched his fists as he waited for at least a few answers.

Tony appreciated the anger and let it reignite his own before he tried to fill in the majority of the story, "Apparently he wanted to know what makes Pete Spider-Man so he could replicate it. He was trying to create some kind of formula or process that would allow for personal enhancement. Super strength, quicker reflexes, speed healing, the usual stuff. I'm assuming he was aiming for some kind of military contract. But he swore he didn't know Pete was mine." Tony shook his head, his voice soft as he added, "I don't think this was directed at me or any of us."

Rhodes nodded slowly and added another thing to talk to Ross about, if it was a military contract, he might be able to get some information on who ordered it. Carefully. Looking over at Tony again, he could not help but lay his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Where is he now?"

"He's in my quinjet, handcuffed to the co-pilot's seat."

Tony sounded exhausted and Rhodey felt a pang of sorrow but he knew he needed to ask him a few more things, "He's still alive?" Rhodes felt slightly guilty for assuming Hammer was dead and that he would need to cover for Tony in case anyone, especially Ross, found out that the government's former favorite weapons designer was killed by an Avenger. But at the same time, Rhodey would not have been surprised or cared if the answered was no.

"Yah, he is." The disappointment in Tony's tone was obvious, "it was the only way I could get him to tell me where Pete was."

"You threatened him, then?" It was more of a statement but Tony did not quite take it that way.

Tony looked at his friend like he had lost his mind, "Of course I did Rhodes, he took my kid and I wanted him back."

Rhodey could not help the thought that flashed through his mind that if it had not been for the gravity of the situation, Tony would have sounded like a petulant child. Instead, he held his hands up in surrender, "I get it, Tony, I get it. I'm not saying anything you did was wrong, I'm just trying to get the lay of the land. He's technically still a person with rights, at least that's the way his fans in Congress will see it. Don't forget, you burned a lot of bridges when you stopped making weapons and politicians rarely forget."

But almost immediately, Tony started shaking his head in the negative, "No, he's not a person Rhodes. He's a parasite who should still be in jail. He deserves significantly worse than I gave him." His voice hardened when he continued, "I want him dead, Rhodey. He deserves to be dead."

"I understand, Tony. And I agree with you but you can't kill him. You can't. You will be charged for that, being an Avenger would not protect you for killing a man in cold blood. If that happens you won't be there for Peter or Morgan." Rhodes was desperate to get Tony to see reason, beating a man for taking your son was defensible but going back hours later and killing him was a much more difficult action to defend.

Tony stared, stone-faced, while the conflict warred behind his eyes. His bad hand started shaking and his eyes welled up but he refused to let the tears fall. Instead he turned back to the wall him and dropped his head into his hands.

Rhodes recognized it was the end of the conversation and he instead threw his arm back over the man's shoulders, offering as much comfort as he could and praying that the doctors would be done soon. But more importantly praying that Peter would survive it.

* * *

"I could have fixed your shoulder a lot faster you know," Natasha quipped when he walked back into the training room. She was busy rewrapping her wrists as she sat with her back to the door but she knew exactly who it was as soon as she heard the footsteps. So when he did not say anything, she turned in his direction. Immediately, her hackles raised, when Steve had that look on his face, something was wrong. Her stomach dropped as she narrowed her eyes in his direction, "What's going on, Steve?"

"We need to go, Natasha." His characteristic resolve and determination rang through clearly.

"Where?" She asked disinterestedly as she started to collect her equipment. She had been planning on finishing their sparring match but given the tone in of his voice, something much more important had come up. If Cap said they had a mission, they had a mission but something about his countenance still made her feel on edge.

"We're going to go clean up a mess," Steve answered, a slight undertone of fury was starting to build in his voice.

Natasha heard it. "Okay…" She answered hesitantly, then she demanded more than she normally did of him to satiate her own instincts. "Want to tell me any more about what we're cleaning up?" Normally Cap was not this tightlipped but something had seriously thrown him off. She did not really need to know what in order to follow him but at the same time something made her press for answers.

This time there was real anger seeped into his expression, "Someone kidnapped and tried to kill Peter, we're going to take care of the people who did it."

 _Well shit_ , that was really all she needed to know and her own fury threatened to invade her unemotional façade. She repeated her earlier question with a snarled, "Where?" But before he could answer she waved her hand in front of her and snapped, "Never mind, I don't care. Give me three minutes."

Steve accepted her conversational shift and instead gave her a location, "Meet me in the hanger, I'm going to get Bucky."

As she stuffed the last of the workout gear into her bag, she added, "I'll tell Rhodes."

"Don't," Steve answered quickly, "He needs to be with Tony."

The answer surprised her, forcing her to come to a stop mid-stride as fear joined the fury, "What's wrong with Stark?" But as soon as she asked it, she realized she should not really be surprised, if anyone was going to be in trouble with Peter it was going to be Tony.

Steve's voice lost some of the anger when he answered, adopting the worry she had sensed in him earlier, "He's the one that pulled him out."

"Shit," Natasha finally voiced, well aware of how protective Tony could be of his kids, then another thought occurred to her, "how badly was he hurt, Steve?"

"Tony's waiting for him to come out of the operating theater." But he shrugged without a more descriptive answer, but the saddened tone of his voice said enough. "Whatever they did Natasha, it was bad."

Natasha quickly read the scenario and understood what her role needed to be. Whatever they were doing, whatever mess they were cleaning up, was happening without a fully fleshed out plan. This mission was driven by anger, fear, and retribution. She loved the kid but that meant that he would need her to rein in her own anger and keep Steve thinking dispassionately. But at least now, she understood the anger in Steve's tone. He and Tony had long ago worked through their issues and Steve was almost as protective of Peter as Tony was. But more importantly, Stark and Parker a part of the team, a beloved part of the team, especially the youngest Avenger. Shaking her head slightly to focus, Natasha shouldered her bag, adding, "Alright, I'll get Sam." Then she started toward the door, concentrating on what she was going to need to do to destroy the bastards. She heard Steve call out in response.

"That's a good idea." He grabbed his few belongings before heading out himself.

Before she got out of sight though, another thought occurred to her and she called back over her shoulder, genuinely concerned, "How's Stark doing?"

Steve frowned sadly, "Not well." But then the determination was back again and he ordered, "Get ready."

"Shit," she repeated as she took off down the hallway, not even realizing the Captain did not bother to admonish her.

* * *

On her way to her room, she stuck her head into Sam's, "Suit up, Sam. We gotta go."

He was sitting on his bed reading something but it could not have been too interesting because he dropped it as soon as she said something. Quickly glancing up at her, he shrugged and said, "Sounds good, what are we doing?"

Her gaze was hard when she answered, but her words were deceptively light, she knew Sam would get it. "We're taking on some bad guys. Apparently someone decided it was a good idea to kidnap Peter. We're going to go deal with them."

Sam's face fell as he started to reach for his suit. As he pulled the wings toward him, he could not help but ask, "Someone took Stark's kid and they're still alive?"

The incredulous tone matched some of the questions Natasha had been asking herself as well. "Apparently." She quipped as her voice adopted an even sharper edge, "At least until I find them."

Sam had the good sense to shudder at her tone as he grabbed the last of his stuff, "Where are we meeting?"

"Hanger in two minutes." Her voice was cold as she turned toward the door.

"I'll meet you there." He called after her.

She just nodded and threw her hand over her head in recognition.

* * *

Pepper found her husband a short time later. Rhodes was sitting with his arm thrown over Tony's shoulders and his head resting back against the wall. Tony had his head in his hands and everything about him looked miserable. Pepper unconsciously clutched Morgan closer as the terror she had been carrying since Tony told her what happened was fully realized. He would only look like that if Peter was not doing well and that thought made Pepper sick. Steeling herself, she shifted Morgan on her hip and stepped up to the two in the chairs.

Rhodey noticed her presence first and squeezed Tony's shoulder before he let the arm slowly slide away. He stood stiffly, giving the agonizing family some privacy and letting Pepper and Morgan sit down next to Tony. But even as he moved, the other man did not react. It was only after Pepper took up the seat that Rhodes saw Tony shift.

The movement beside him forced him to turn, he knew it was Pepper. He wanted to say something, anything but he could not find the words. Instead he sat up, reached out, and hugged her and Morgan. He buried his face into her shoulder, clutching at her like the embrace was the only thing keeping him from jumping out of his skin. She laid her arm around his back and pulled him closer. Only then did he let himself cry, his shoulders shaking as she pulled him tighter with one arm. They sat that way for a bit before he pulled away and looked at her through red rimmed eyes.

"He'll be alright, Tony." She promised, even while she felt her own tears tracking down her cheeks. But as they sat back, Tony was able to really look at his youngest son, still held securely in his mother's arms.

It was that look that drew Morgan's attention, "Daddy," he cooed in a surprisingly demanding tone while holding his arms out in front of him. Tony could not help the small, anguished smile as he reached out and tugged Morgan out of Pepper's lap and settled the little boy in his. Small fingers brushed at the tears on Tony's face as he cuddled closer, "Don't cry, daddy."

But Tony could not say anything, just hugged his younger son as he tried desperately to collect himself.

However, in true Stark fashion, when Morgan did not get a response from the adult in front of him, he asked someone else. The little boy twisted slightly in Tony's grasp, unwilling to break his dad's hold but still needing an answer to explain his dad's weird disposition. Pepper looked down at him and as soon as he had her attention, he asked, "Mommy, why is daddy crying?" But before giving Pepper a chance to answer, he seemed to realized something else and he surveyed the room before tacking on, "Where's Peter?"

The tears Tony had swallowed back broke again. Pepper tried to step in and explain, "Honey, daddy is crying because Peter got hurt really bad."

"Like he got a cut?" He pulled one arm free from his dad's clutching hands to show the bandage Pepper had to put on after he cut his arm slipping down a few stairs.

She nodded, more tears slipping through her control, "But it was a really bad cut."

"Okay," the little boy nodded slowly, processing the information. Then he twisted back toward his dad, "Will Peter be okay?"

Tony did not know what to say. How do you tell a three year old that he might never see his brother again? But he knew he needed to say something so he swallowed his tears and forced himself to look into his young son's eyes, "Pete'll be okay, buddy. He's strong and we'll get to see him soon."

That seemed to placate the child and he curled into his dad's arms, humming to himself. Pepper laid her arm back around Tony's shoulders and pressed her forehead to his before whispering, "What happened?"

"Hammer," was all he could say. And he felt Pepper stiffen in shock or anger, he wasn't sure and she did not ask. Instead, he just closed his eyes and tried to wring some comfort out of the embrace.

* * *

Rhodes stood at the back of the room, feeling almost guilty for observing the concern of the small family. He knew that Pepper would try to take the full weight of Tony's grief and so he resolved to help her shoulder some of it. Rhodes silently walked back over to the three and sat down beside Pepper, laying his hand on her back.

She turned to look at him and gave him a small smile before quietly whispering, "May will be here later, she was on a work trip and Happy took one of the jets to get her a couple of hours ago. When they get here, will you bring them down?"

"Yah, Pepper. I can do that." Glancing up at the ceiling he quietly ordered, "FRIDAY, let me know when Happy and May get here."

"Of course, Colonel Rhodes." The sweet voice answered before it slid back into silence. But after only a few minutes, she spoke up again, "Colonel Rhodes, I'm sorry to bother you but Secretary Ross is on the line."

But it was not Rhodes to answered. As soon as he heard that name, Tony's head shot up from where it had fallen on Pepper's shoulder, "FRIDAY, you are not to take another phone call from that bastard until we find out about Peter. Actually, no scratch that, ignore any calls from that man until I tell you differently."

"Tony, I don't know if that is a good idea…" Rhodes started before he saw the look in Tony's eyes.

Tony's gaze was steady, determined in his analysis of the situation, "Rhodey, someone let Hammer out of jail, someone with enough influence to overlook everything that he did. Ross is one of the only people I can think of who could make that happen. In any case, he can wait until we find out whether the latest victim of his favorite weapons designer is going to survive before we take his phone calls." Tony snapped, his voice hard.

This was not a good idea and Rhodes tried to tell him that, "Tony, we don't know that Ross is behind any of thi –"

But the man cut him off, "I don't care, Rhodes. I don't care. Ross is one of the people who gave Hammer contracts when Stark Industries stopped making weapons and he would be crazy enough to continue with that arrangement. I don't know to what extent but Ross had a hand in this and until we find out what exactly it was, he will not get through to us in this building." Then as if that solved the situation, Tony dropped his head again.

"Tony…" Rhodes started again but he did not finish the sentence. Suspicion started to seep into his on mind as he thought about what Tony was saying, it might have been paranoia but it was not unfounded. It would be something they would definitely have to explore later. Until then, Ross could wait.

* * *

 **There you have it!**

 **I hope it was worth the wait, Peter will be in the next one for sure.**

 **I hope everyone has a wonderful day/night and stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


	6. Chapter 6

**Alrighty my lovely readers, I have another chapter for you guys! It seems like the weekend is going to be my time to write now :)**

 **I want to again say thank you to everyone who continues to read the story, review, and follow/favorite. I know it seems a bit repetitive at times but I think I need to say it because it's nice to know that people are reading and enjoying what you are taking the time to write. I just want to make sure everyone knows that!**

 **I specifically want to shout out to Ikia (I meant to do it last chapter, I'm sorry!). I'm really glad you like the way I wrote Tony's character, thank you so much for saying so. The weakness that I've read in some stories has always seemed a little off to me because he doesn't act like that in the movies. He has a lot of anxiety for sure, but its rarely debilitating, he is usually able to handle his shit until the immediate threat is gone. I think that's what I'm trying to look at here. The immediate threat is over and now he has to figure out how to deal with the fallout. Anyway, I'm sorry, I'm rambling.**

 **I just wanted to say thank you again to Ikia and shout out to Avengersfan30 and Aerilion, you guys are awesome!**

 **Again, thank you all so much and I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"Steve, are you sure this is the place? This looks like an office building." Bucky leaned farther forward in the chair, trying to get a better look at what was quickly coming up below them.

Steve was not sure what he was expecting but the completely normal looking building nestled into a benign portion of a service sector industrial park was not it. That took him aback and then he stupidly realized that he had not asked Tony anything about what they were looking for or what they were going to do once they found it. He had let his rage blind him. He knew better. Thankfully, they were in a quinjet, so Steve asked the brain, "FRIDAY, what did Tony do when he first came to this location?"

"He asked Justin Hammer for information and entry into the lower portion of the building." She replied, her unflappably calm tone cutting the tension in the cabin.

"Can you pull up a schematic from the Iron Man suit?" Natasha asked when she realized that Steve did not have the information they needed.

"I can, Ms. Romanov." It took a moment before a limited layout of the building was projected into the center of the jet.

"That's it?" She asked.

FRIDAY responded, "Mr. Stark was focused solely on Mr. Parker. Justin Hammer gave him the information on how to find him and Mr. Stark went immediately there."

"Of course he did," Natasha quipped. She was not upset that Stark had not gone sightseeing but something slightly more complete than this would have been helpful. She thought for a moment before responding, "FRIDAY, find the public layout for the building, keep the Iron Man one up, and overlay them."

"Yes, Ms. Romanov."

Almost immediately the red outline of Tony's trip expanded as the other rooms became visible when they were laid overtop. As each studied the map, Bucky spoke up, "Is there not more to the basement levels in the public plans?"

"No, the plans filed with the city are being projected." The AI sounded almost apologetic but did not offer any more information.

"So he built a separate chamber underneath the original building," Natasha mused, "Well if Stark went into the lower levels, that's where we need to go to." The cabin lapsed into silence as each of the Avengers committed the layout to memory. Then Natasha thought of something else, "FRIDAY, use thermal imagining, how many people are in the facility?"

Without comment the image changed, highlighting the hotspots. The upper floors showed very little heat with the exception of one large room, putting off a significant amount.

Steve studied the map for a bit, frowning at the lack of heat signatures that would indicate human life in the upper floors of the building. As his keen eyes swept the map, he asked, "FRIDAY, is there no way to scan the lower levels, the ones Tony went into?"

"I'm sorry Captain Rodgers, I was only able to scan those levels when Mr. Stark was in the building. I could break through their security but it would take time."

"No that's alright FRIDAY," Steve said, shaking his head before he continued, "Can you include the locations of the individuals who were in the basement when Tony went in?"

Red bodies appeared on the screen and Steve went back to trying to place them somewhere in the apparent holding area underground.

While Steve studied the personnel, Natasha focused on the large heat signature on the second floor, "Do you have any indication as to what that large room is? Is it some type of server room or electronic storage?"

"It is Ms. Romanov. It appears to be shielded but judging by the reading I am able to see, it is the majority of the storage for the facility."

Almost immediately, Natasha responded, "I'll take that. Sam why don't you come with me?"

Falcon absentmindedly responded, while he looked at the map, "We looking for some information?"

Natasha nodded, "As much as we can find. Hammer was behind this and maybe something we find will actually keep him in prison this time."

Steve looked at Bucky, "We'll round up everyone we can from the basement." Then he turned to Natasha and Sam, "When you get the information you need, clear the upper floors and meet us downstairs."

Natasha and Sam nodded in agreement.

"FRIDAY, put us down just outside of the facility." Steve directed. Then he looked again to the group, "I know everyone is angry and you have every right to be but we have to remember who we're doing this for." He paused, looking each of them in the eye, "Do not kill anyone unless you need to, if we want this resolved, we can't sink to their level. And we don't want Peter to know we killed in his name. Find out as much as you can so we can figure out what exactly happened and how to keep it from happening again but keep the body count low." As the quinjet touched down on the lawn, Steve gave the order, "Let's go."

* * *

It was a couple hours of tense waiting before Morgan fell asleep on Tony's lap, tiny hands wrapped resolutely around his arm. But as soon as he was firmly out, Pepper looked over at her husband, "Hammer. Justin Hammer did this? Why?" Then something else occurred to her, "How did he get out of prison? This wasn't revenge was it?"

When Tony did not answer right away, she looked behind her at Rhodey but he gestured toward Tony, "It's not my story to tell Pepper."

Tony swallowed back bile as he thought about what his rival had done, but he filled her in regardless. It took time but he told them everything, including what he had asked Steve to do. When he was done, he did not hang his head or try to hide but he could feel the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes again, god he was done with crying. He forced them away and waited for a response from the two in front of him.

Pepper spoke first, "Peter is going to be alright, Tony. He's going to make it." She waited until he nodded before she continued, "Be we need to talk about what we're going to do with Hammer. Eventually he's going to have to come out of the jet." She looked back at Rhodey for some help.

"I'll take care of him but what we really need to do is figure out what his plan was. If he's out of prison, its for a reason." Rhodes added.

"I told you why he's out of prison." Tony quipped, his voice soft.

Rhodes's expression softened when he looked at the man, "Tony, we don't know for sure that the Secretary of State was complicit in the kidnapping and torture of an America citizen. That is not a charge we can just lay on his doorstep, we need a lot more evidence to back it up." Rhodes answered, his tone was incredulous but he could not stop the tingling feeling that Tony might be right. "We need to talk to Hammer."

"I'll get him to talk." Tony threatened, his tone dark as the expression on his face, "But it's going to have to wait."

The tone was dangerous enough that it caused the conversation to fall there, either was sure what to say to the threat but both knew that leaving Tony alone in the room with him would be a dangerous proposition for both men. Pepper spoke up once more, "Tony, it might be best if you talk to him with someone else, maybe Natasha?" But the oppressive silence fell again as each tried to reason through to an answer none of them had enough evidence to find.

* * *

It was not long after their conversation fell that the doctor stepped out into the waiting room. "Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts, Colonel," he greeted each with a small smile, "Peter is going to recover." He said with an exhausted enthusiasm. As the tension disappeared out of the small waiting room, he continued, "We were able to correct the damage to his leg and wrist with minimal re-breakage. Unfortunately, he is going to experience a bit more pain that we would normally expect for him. It seems like his ability to heal has been compromised by whatever sedative they were giving him. We've found a few different markers in his blood and we're testing them now but it seems as though they were giving him different modifications of the drug. Probably to see which one worked the best with his heightened abilities. I'm guessing his system burned through it pretty quickly when his adrenalin was up but the last dosage was significantly stronger than the others. I'm guessing that its strength coupled with his injuries is why his body is having such a hard time fighting passed it. As for his other injuries, his lung has been inflated and so we would like to monitor him for a bit longer, but he should able to be moved into his own room in a couple of days."

Tony spoke almost as soon as the doctor paused at the end of his report, "Can we see him?"

"Of course, sir. They're moving him now but I want you to know he is still pretty heavily sedated. We're trying to give his body a chance to heal but I'm guessing it won't last longer than a couple of hours." The man's voice was calm, a welcome sound when compared to the rest of the ordeal.

"Tony," Pepper spoke up, her voice quiet but indisputable, "Why don't you take Morgan and go see him? Rhodey and I will take care of Hammer." She wrapped her around his shoulder again and tugged him close.

Almost immediately, Rhodes nodded at her suggestion, "Go see the kid, Tony. He's going to be wondering where you are anyway."

Tony did not know what else to say, the thick emotion in his throat caught as he barely managed to get out, "Thank you." Before Pepper pushed him toward the room.

* * *

Tony clutched Morgan tightly to his chest as they stepped into the recovery room and saw Peter. He had a cannula under his nose and a few wires snaked out from under the heavy blanket pulled up and over his form. He was deathly pale which made the bruises stand out even more horrendously. As the quiet beeping of the heart rate monitor reached their ears, Tony felt Morgan turn in his arms. The little boy had been looking forward to seeing his brother and no matter what Tony or Pepper said, he could not understand that Peter was not doing well. So as soon as his eyes fell across the unnaturally still body, Tony felt the sobs starting. Knowing that nothing he could do would make it better, Tony just took up the chair next to the bed, holding his youngest son close. At least until Morgan tried reaching for his brother, "Pe-Peter…" the little boy sobbed, arms out in front of him the way he always did whenever he wanted to be picked up. Only this time, Peter did not respond and Morgan started to cry harder. Tony tried to bundle him against his chest but the child was not having it, and continued to reach for his brother, knowing that something was wrong, even if he could not explain why.

Tony tried to explain, "Morgan, buddy, Peter can't hug you right now. He's hurt remember."

"No," the small boy responded, adamant in his rejection, "Peter always gives _me_ hugs."

Tony did not know how to explain to his son that his brother would give him a hug but he could not right now. Instead, he just held the child still as he struggled to get onto the bed, "Morgan, you need to stay here."

"No, daddy." He insisted, "I need to give Peter a hug, he needs one." His little sobs broke Tony's heart into desperately small pieces, "Buddy, you can't. You can't play with Peter right now, okay?"

Then those blue eyes turned up to his with heartbroken determination, "I promise I won't hurt him, I won't jump on him or anything." The tears were dripping off the little boy's chin, "I promise, daddy. Please let me hug him." Morgan begged.

Tony relented. Standing carefully, he set the little boy close to Peter but did not let go, "Morgan," he started, his voice serious, "you may not crawl on the bed. You can give him a hug but you have to wait until I pick you up. Understand?"

The bright eyes looked up at him again, "I understand daddy, I promise." And Tony let him go. Morgan crawled up next to Peter, careful not to touch anything other than the blanket, and laid his head on the young man's shoulder before hesitantly pressing his hand to Peter's side. Then he paused, like he was waiting for his dad to tell him he could not. When Tony did not say anything, Morgan snuggled a little closer and started to talk.

Tony watched as Morgan started talking to Peter, telling him about his day, about pretending to be Spider-Man, and about all the things they were going to do when he woke up. But as the comforting scene played out before him, Tony felt the exhaustion finally crept in and he fell back into the chair behind him, watching his sons. He refused to let himself sleep but even the presence of a breathing Peter was enough to release some of the incredible tension that had settled in his chest. He pulled the chair closer and grabbed Peter's hand.

* * *

Tony had fried most of the security systems leading down into the unregistered portion of Hammer's compound so getting in was not difficult. The supersoldiers immediately turned in the direction they knew, following the mental map both had created from the one FRIDAY had projected. As they stealthily slid through the hallways, no one crossed their path. Coming to the end of a hallway, they shared a look before silently splitting up.

As both reached the end of their respective corridors, they turned to see the other, shrugging at the apparent abandonment of the area. Then Bucky looked ahead and, squinting into the dark, moved forward. Steve followed a bit behind him before hearing him call out, "Steve look at this."

Steve stepped quickly up to the cell Bucky was currently inspecting. There was a heavy door in the hallway but it was twisted and cracked, like it had fallen away from the frame and landed on something that caused it to fracture on one side. As Bucky looked over the cell, Steve crouched down to scrutinize the door, noticing some kind of damaged concentrated at the bottom, "What happened here?" He whispered just loud enough for Bucky to hear.

His friend answered, equally as cautiously, "I think Pete lifted the door," Bucky said as he studied the shorn doorframe, "and broke the lock to try to get out." Then he stepped into the room, "Steve, there's blood on the floor." Bucky felt sick to his stomach as he stared at the barely dried stain and he heard his friend step up behind him.

Steve knelt to look at the damage to the door, speaking loud enough for his friend to hear him, "He got his hands under it. These are indents from fingers." Then he stood as he heard Bucky step quietly into the room. Steve put his hands under the broken door and lifted. It was heavier than it looked and as he looked at the twisted lock, it was obvious it was a large, solid chunk of metal. He filed that information away for later. Then he heard Bucky say something about blood and he moved into the room. Stepping up behind his friend, Steve saw exactly what he was gesturing too and felt the fury rise up again. Laying his hand on Bucky's shoulder, he whispered, "We should keep moving. There has to be someone here."

As they stepped back out into the hallway, they did not separate again. Turning in another direction Tony had gone, they crept through the passageway only to find another door torn almost completely off its hinges. This time though, they found the first people they had seen, unfortunately, they were dead. Steve knelt down to get a better look at the bodies in the dim light only to realize both were killed with a gunshot, "This must have been where Tony found him."

Then the clattering, crashing sound of metal colliding with stone suddenly echoed through the silent labyrinth and both supersoldiers took off running in that direction.

* * *

Peter groaned back into consciousness. His entire body felt stiff and heavy as he slid his hand up to his head. His first true realization was that his right arm was asleep but he could not remember why. Winking his eyes open caused him to groan a little louder, calling attention to his awareness as he snapped his eyes shut against the brightness in the room. Dropping his arm across his face, he tried to remember what the hell was going on and why he could not feel his other arm.

Tony heard the groaning as he dozed beside the bed and he immediately snapped his eyes open, assuming it was Morgan. But the little boy was still asleep. Then he saw Peter's eyes open before he grumbled again and slammed them shut. Relief flooded his chest as he squeezed the hand he was holding, whispering to his son, "Pete? Pete, are you awake?"

Peter heard someone mumble something that kind of sounded like his name and he almost wanted to ignore it but it sounded so familiar. Then he heard it again and it all snapped into place. Peter squinted open his eyes and tried to look around, his voice thin when he spoke, "Dad?" Then the light became too much and he slammed them closed again.

"FRIDAY, turn down the lights." Immediately, the lights dimmed in the room, falling just above off, "There you go Pete, trying opening your eyes again."

Peter obeyed and squinted at first to test the light. When he realized the lights were lower, he opened his eyes the rest of the way. He forced himself to blink a few times before he rolled his head over to the side. When he did, he could not keep the loopy smile off his face, because even though he knew he was the reason the man looked so tired, he was happy to see him.

"Hey, kid." Tony breathed out, finally able to inhale a complete breath for the first time since he had gotten that phone call.

"Hey dad," Peter whispered, rolling his head a bit against the pillow to try to wake up a bit more. Satisfied at his little movement, he turned his head back toward his dad, "How long have I been out?"

Tony smiled as he watched him try to wake up, Peter was never really one to stay still for too long. But then he asked that and Tony could not keep his expression from falling. Sighing heavily, he answered, "Too long, Pete. You really scared me back there."

Peter hated the look on his dad's face, it made him feel worse. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

Tony felt sick at the fact that his kid was even thinking of apologizing and he could not keep the agitation out of his tone, "What did I tell you about apologizing to me?"

"Not too," Peter murmured, not knowing how to apologize for apologizing. Instead, he looked down at his still strangely numb arm. The little mop of brown hair caught him off guard for a moment but once he realized who it was, he could not help the smile the crept across his face. Morgan was cuddled against him with his head on his shoulder and his hand on his chest, solving the case of the sleeping appendage.

Tony saw the look and held his other hand out off to the side, his flash of anger gone as quickly as it had manifested, before explaining, "He wanted to make you feel better."

"He does." Peter looked back at Tony and reality hit him, his expression souring a little, "Dad, what happened?"

"Peter," Tony started, "Are you sure you want to know right now?" He watched as his son looked down at his little brother as if he was gathering the courage to say yes.

Peter really did not want to know why those men had taken him, did not want to know the extent of the damage they had done, even though he knew he needed to know. But his dad's tone scared him, he only ever used his full name when it was bad. Still he looked down at Morgan and realized that he needed to be the superhero the little boy thought he was, so he hesitantly nodded.

Tony glanced down at the bed for a moment, trying to sort through what he should tell him and what could wait for later. After a few moments, he started, "The man who kidnapped you, his name is Justin Hammer. He's a defunct weapons designer who thought…well I don't really know what he thought but he wanted to use your abilities and genetic code as some kind of weapon."

Peter could not keep his hands from shaking as the point of the medical equipment became clear. He stuttered out the next question, feeling guilty as he said it, "Is – is he still alive?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Tony scowled, "I needed him to find you and I had to promise not to kill him."

Peter could not help the involuntary shiver that ran through him at his dad's tone but at the same time, a blossom of warmth paradoxically built in his stomach. He knew he always had someone who would protect him, even if he did not always feel like he needed it.

Tony saw the shiver, "Pete…" he started but did not know where to go from there. Instead, settling for softly squeezing the hand he was holding.

That Peter felt. The soft motion forced him to look up at his dad with grief and pain filled eyes, begging without words for more comfort than his little brother could give.

Tony understood and immediately stood up. "Scoot over, kid," he ordered.

Peter obliged, shifting away from his brother to make room. Tony climbed onto the bed, moved Morgan back into Peter's side, and then settled himself close enough to throw his arm around Peter's shoulders and pull him close.

Immediately, his oldest son tucked himself into his side and his younger son was shifted into the space between them. When Peter was wrapped securely in his arms, Tony finally relaxed, reveling in the comfort of having the majority of his family safe again. He could not help himself as he tugged the younger man closer, whispering, "I've gotcha, Peter. Always."

For the first time since he had woken up in that cell, Peter felt safe. His dad's arm was wrapped tightly around him and he let himself relax into that hold, basking in the feeling of security that came from the man's promise. His eyes started to slip closed again of their own accord, a process he was actively fighting until his dad started running his hand through his hair. Then he felt a kiss pressed to his forehead and heard the deep voice rumble in his chest, "Go back to sleep Peter, I promise I'll be here when you wake up."

Peter believed him. The comfort and the gentle ministrations of the man's hand in his hair relaxed him and he quickly fell back to sleep.

* * *

 **There you have it, another chapter down.**

 **I hope everyone enjoyed the story! Have a wonderful day/night and stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's another chapter for you my awesome readers!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

The smashing sound led them to another room that was infinitely better lit than what they had seen so far. As they stepped inside, the smell of antiseptic and chemicals smacked into them, nearly overwhelming their senses.

Bucky shivered involuntarily when he saw the white walled room, the pristinely cleaned surgical tools, and reinforced restraints on the gurney were too similar to what he had seen before but almost immediately the creeping déjà vu melted into fury. His muscles tensed as he realized what they had done, "Where are they?" Bucky snarled, "There were heat signatures down here, where are they?"

"I don't know Buck." Steve answered in a measured tone as he methodically worked his way through the room, "Maybe there is another room, something that we're missing…" He trailed off as he ran his hands along the wall, searching for some kind of seam or evidence of a break in the wall.

Bucky took a slightly different approach. He knocked on the wall and at every point where he found a hollow portion, he put his fist through it.

Both of them were thorough but Bucky found the door first.

He tapped along a particularly open portion of the wall until the telltale muffled sound of a space beyond echoed back, so as he had been doing, he put his fist through the section. Only this time, instead of finding plaster and drywall, he heard someone scream. Opening his hand and laying his palm flat against the interior, he yanked hard, clearing a space for him to look into the hole he had created. Four sets of eyes stared, wide-eyed back at him. He could not help the terrible glee that worked its way into his voice, "Steve, I found them." And he proceeded to tear the door off the hinges. As soon as he did, he reached in and grabbed ahold of the first shirt he felt. He yanked so hard the fabric tore as the man was tossed, flailing, onto the floor behind him. He gave the same treatment to the other three.

As soon as they landed, Steve cuffed them, squeezing until he heard a whimper of pain from each of the lab coat clad individuals. Then both supersoldiers stood back and looked at their handiwork before Bucky started, "Which of you is the head of this little operation?"

The four bound individuals looked at each other before their eyes landed on the man Bucky had pulled out last. The older, balding man looked nothing like the sadistic Frankenstein either soldier had imagined. Then the man cleared his throat and his soft, falsetto voice was even more out of the imagined character, "Th-that would be me." There was a broken air of superiority in his tone, like he was trying to contain his fear and hid it behind shaky arrogance.

Steve looked at him with indifference, hiding the rage that was nonetheless causing his hands to shake, "You?" He asked. Then he waited for the man to slowly nod his head, "Good." The Captain lowered his voice, becoming infinitely more threatening, "then you can answer a few of our questions."

The man swallowed hard and nodded again, more fear creeping in as the arrogant expression continued to crack.

"How many people are down here?" Steve started, expecting some kind of pushback for his efforts.

"Its just the four of us in the lab." The balding man answered quickly, a bit of smug arrogance sticking to the tone as he answered the question as uselessly as possible.

Unfortunately, Steve's normal patience was gone, "Not what I asked." He took a threatening step forward, "How many people are down here?"

The large booted foot landed uncomfortably close to his head and caused the man to wince back in anticipation before he quickly obliged Steve's question, "About ten."

Steve nodded slowly, that was far fewer than had been on Tony's earlier schematic, "Who are they and where are they hiding?"

The balding man opened his mouth to respond but snapped it shut when one of the other bound individuals raised her voice. She was younger, her blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun that had been loosened at some point, allowing the hair to frame her beautiful face. She glared up at the two supersoldiers with as much contempt as she could managed as she started demanding her own answers, "What are you doing here?" She snapped, clearly even less cooperative than her boss.

This time, Bucky took the lead, he was not in the mood to deal with her inanity. Stepping in front of Steve, he stood over her, towering in comparison to her place on the floor. Attempting to intimidate her, he bit back, "Are you stupid? You honestly don't know why we're here?"

She clenched her teeth shut as she narrowed her eyes at the Avengers.

But Bucky was not done, "We're here because you're performing sick, sadistic experiments on people and you made the incredibly ill-advised mistake of taking one of our own." He smiled as she finally flinched but she did not break her gaze, so he continued, "Do you know why we're here now?"

She maintained her glare at the one-armed soldier, stoically keeping her mouth shut.

Bucky finally leaned down and stared her in the eye, snarling again, "I asked you a question, do you know why we're here now?"

Her defiance finally broke under his scrutiny and her blue eyes widened as she nodded.

Bucky stood again and gestured for Steve to continue.

Unfazed by Bucky's display, Steve turned back to the balding man, "I believe I asked you a few questions before we were interrupted," he shot a withering glance at the woman who actively cowered away. Steve's voice carried through the small room, "So tell me, who is left, where they are, and how did you know we were coming?"

The rest of the pathetic resistance faltered, as the man scrambled to answer the questions, "We've assumed you were coming since Stark was here earlier. We're the last few who are left in the building. Our job was to clean and break everything down that could lead anyone back to the facility before disappearing ourselves."

"So the few that are left here, what role did they have in what happened to Spider-Man?" Steve was so close to using the kid's real name but he was not quite sure exactly what they knew.

The doctor in charge winced but did not say anything.

Bucky leaned down again, more anger slipping passed his control, "Did you not learn anything from your assistant over there? Just tell us what we want to know." He brought his mechanical hand in front of the man and flexed the fingers. Bucky hated the way the mechanics of that motion sounded but it worked well as an intimidation tactic and at this point, he was angry enough to use it.

The man swallowed hard, staring at the metallic fist for a moment more before turning back to Steve, "The four of us were in charge of seeing what effects each of the treatments had on him."

"What treatments?" Steve asked, apprehensive of actually learning the answer.

When the man did not answer quickly enough, Bucky slammed his fist into the side of his head, "He asked you a question. Answer it or I'll kill you and find someone who will. I'm done with this prevaricated bullshit." Then he lowered his eyes to meet the man's gaze, "I'm guessing you know who I am."

The doctor nodded quickly but Bucky spoke slowly, clearly, "Good. Then you know I have no qualms about killing you slowly with some of those clean tools on that wall." He jerked his mechanical hand over his shoulder and emphasized the instruments, "You used them to cut up a kid so I can only imagine what I'll be able to do with them." As the balding man's eyes started to bulge out of his head, Bucky lowered his voice again, "Tell him what he wants to know."

When the balding doctor spoke again, his words were slightly slower and slurred, even while he tripped over his tongue to get the story out quick enough, "Hammer hired men to beat him, break his bones, force him to fight, and then knock him out so we could see how his body reacted to the damage. We had devised a sedative as well, specifically for people with abilities like his and actually using it on him allowed us to improve the formula…"

He was going to go on when Steve interrupted him, "And you saw nothing wrong with doing this to a kid?"

The man had the decency to look ashamed but continued anyway, "It was going to lead to advancements for the military, for civilians. It was maybe wrong to perform human experiments but look at yourselves. Without experimentation, neither one of you would exist."

Steve and Bucky exchanged dumbfounded looks before Bucky leaned down in front of the doctor again, "I've been on the other end of your experiments and I can promise you that nothing positive for humanity ever came from them. You are a deluded, stupid ass if you think anything more than money to line your boss's pockets was going to come from that kid's pain." Then he looked up at Steve, "Are we done here?"

The Captain just nodded and Bucky took that as his cue to slam his fist a few times into the doctor's face. Only stopping when one of the other assistances called out, "Stop! You're going to kill him." Bucky looked the young man in the eye, surprised when he realized he was only a few years older than Peter. Taking in his fear, Bucky slammed his fist once more into the doctor's face before letting go of his collar. When the man slumped boneless to the floor, Bucky stood and looked at the horrified expressions on the other's faces, before turning back to Steve, "Let's round everyone else up."

* * *

Steve caught Bucky's arm as they stepped back out into the hallway, forcing the man to face him, "Buck, are you alright? That was more violence than I've seen in a while." Steve said, searching his friend's eyes for an answer.

"No, I'm not. After all the terrible things...why is someone still doing this?" Bucky could not keep the exasperation out of his tone.

"I don't know, Buck."

"He's too young for them to have done that Steve, I should have just killed that guy." The supersoldier involuntarily flexed his hand as he tried to understand what had happened.

Steve shook his head in the negative, voice adamant when he responded, "No you shouldn't have, Buck and you know it. You would have been more torn up if you had killed him. You're better than them and they'll get what they deserve. One way or another." He slapped him on the shoulder before moving off to clear the rest of the basement.

* * *

It only took an hour or two to finish rounding up the rest of the basement. As the two soldiers set about dragging their prisoners back to the entryway, Sam and Natasha found them. As a group, they managed to get the personnel out of the hidden complex.

Steve looked up at Natasha as she helped load the captives onto the quinjet, "What were you able to get?"

Her voice was even, detached when she spoke, "Enough. They were trying to wipe the servers but there was enough left that I got a good idea of what they were trying to do. FRIDAY is going to work on it while we get these guys back to the Compound."

Steve bodily threw one of the brutes into the back of the jet, hearing the satisfying grunt as the man landed without being able to break his fall. Then he turned back to Natasha, "FRIDAY's going to be able to get in?"

She nodded quickly, "Tony built a remote hacker a long time ago and figured out how to upload her consciousness. FRIDAY can restore almost anything, especially if its HammerTech. We'll have full access to anything they were working on in this facility and anything else they decided to store here."

As the last man was loaded onto the quinjet, the four stalked back inside and Steve ordered FRIDAY to take them back to the Compound.

* * *

Pepper walked in a short time later, a smile stealing across her face when she saw her boys. They were all curled into each other in the bed while Tony served as the anchor for the two younger ones. She crept in, keeping her heals from tapping too loudly against the linoleum and while she was mostly successful, it was not enough to keep Tony from noticing. When she saw his bright smile, she could not help but return her own as she slipped up to the bed.

Leaning over, she stole a kiss before she pulled back and whispered, "Why don't you let me take Morgan? That is not going to be comfortable much longer." She gestured to the way he was curled at the waist, making room for Morgan to sleep against Peter while the younger man was tucked into his shoulder.

Tony just shook his head and answered, "It's alright, I can get up." However, the lag between his statement and his attempt at actual movement were enough to belie any indication he actually wanted to move.

Pepper saw it immediately, a smirk on her face, "Tony you know as well as I do that you don't want to do that and we both know that you shouldn't. Peter might handle situations like this better than other people, but comfort is never a bad thing. Especially not after what happened to him." As she said it, she reached over and pulled Morgan up and out from between the two of them, quickly wrapping her arms around the sleeping child as he nuzzled into her neck. Cooing softly, she sat down in the chair Tony had been in before, shuffling only a bit to get cozy.

Without waking, Peter snuggled closer, wincing slightly as he pulled his injuries. The slight instance of pain made Tony's stomach clench but as he wrapped his arm tighter around his son, his face smoothed back out into sleep.

"How's he doing?" Pepper asked softly, drawing Tony's attention back to her while asking him to quiet her own fears.

"Better. Much better." Tony could not help but breath a bit easier at that admission and Pepper's encouraging beam kept him talking, "He woke up for a bit not too long ago and asked about what happened." His smile slipped a little at and his voice softened, "I told him some of it and it scared him, Pep. I don't know if this one is going to be as easy for him to shake off."

She matched his solemn tone but she answered directly, "He's got plenty of people in his corner, Tony. Iron man most securely of all. If he's not okay, we'll make sure he gets whatever he needs." Tony could not help but nod along with her, knowing she was right, she always was. He could feel the look of adoration on his face, "How did I get so lucky?"

"That I didn't leave a long time ago?" She asked, mischievous grin back on her face.

"Yah," he answered.

"Guess I saw Iron Man before he was Iron Man." She smiled sweetly, sitting up and stealing another kiss. Cooing at Morgan again as he started to stir in her arms but this time he did not calm back down, "I'm going to take him to bed, I don't want him to get upset and wake Peter. We can bring him back down tomorrow when Peter's a bit more awake."

"Thanks Pep."

"Of course, don't forget to get some sleep yourself too." She replied before standing and taking the younger Stark up to his room.

* * *

Tony took her advice.

The discomfort he was going to feel in the morning after being curled awkwardly around his son all night, was far from his mind. The pain he was going to be in from resting on a mattress meant for a still healing patient, did not even enter into his calculations. The stiffness he was going to deal with from being a pillow to a beaten kid, was not a concern. None of the future aches mattered right now because he was protecting someone incredibly important. And he was asleep. Deeply asleep.

Until he was not.

Tony went from asleep to very much awake and laying on his increasingly painful back on the ground a few feet from the bed. The rude awakening left his mind spinning as it tried to catch up. Then he heard whimpering. _Right_.

Immediately jumping up, Tony stumbled over to the bed, to his kid. The kid who was currently half hanging off the mattress where Tony assumed he had collapsed after shoving him away. But the worst part was that he was sobbing. Bent at his waist, Peter was lying with his stomach on the bed and his hands curled into the sheets as he cried. The closer Tony got, those sobs started to morph into words. Pathetically painful yelps of "no" and "please, stop" cut through the hiccupping sobs.

Instead of righting him, Tony crouched next to the bed and put his hand back in Pete's hair. He knew if he tried to move him right now, he would get worse than tossed on his ass. He needed the kid to wake up first, "Pete…Pete I need you to wake up okay? You're dreaming, kid. It's time to wake up." As he talked, a frown started to form on the kid's face. "That's it Pete, keep fighting it, you're having a nightmare. Just open your eyes and it'll be okay." The frown deepened but the whimpering turned into anguished cries.

Peter could see the doctor standing over him, the scalpel held tightly in his hand. But this time, they had forgotten to tie his hands. He threw them up in front of him, his voice weak to his own ears as he tried to command the man to do what he wanted, "St-stay back." But the man kept advancing and then someone was touching him. There was a hand on his head, were they trying to hold him still? He couldn't tell. All he really knew was that he hurt so badly and he wanted them to go away. Then his mind reminded him that his hands were free. He grabbed at the hand on his head. Clutching the offending appendage he started to squeeze as hard as he could, maybe if he could hurt one of them, they would leave him alone.

Tony felt Peter grab ahold of his hand and he continued to talk, assuming that he was getting through to him. But then the pressure on his hand started to increase and he realized that if Peter continued to squeeze, he was going to break it. Tony tried to pull away, "Pete, I need you to wake up. You're dreaming, you're not there anymore." But when the pressure did not realize, he could not help the desperation in his voice, "Peter, you're gonna break my hand." Tony clenched his teeth and tugged hard as he felt the small bones at the edges of his hand start to crumble, in painful slowness. And then Peter squeezed in one painful burst of strength. Tony could not help but scream as he felt the bones in his hand crushed under the younger man's strength.

Peter heard the man, the one who was trying to hurt him yelling, telling him to stop or he would crush his hand but that was what Peter wanted to do. Still there was a small part in the back of his mind that told him to stop, that shrieked at him to stop. It kind of sounded like his dad but he knew he needed to do this in order to get out. In order to get home. So he squeezed harder. He felt the bones in the man's hand give way and almost as quickly, he heard an agonizing scream. It did not sound right though, the scream was wrong. It sounded too much like Tony, too much like his dad. None of the people who had hurt him had sounded like that. It was only then that he realized his eyes were closed. As he forced them open he came face to face with an agonizingly painful look on his dad's face. Peter snapped his eyes to the hand he was still crushing in his grip only to pull back like he had been burned.

Without meaning too, Tony grunted in pain as Peter released his now crushed hand. Slumping to the floor as the multiple breaks and fractures sent spasms of pain down what was already his bad arm. Tony closed his eyes tightly as he curled the broken hand to his chest. He heard Peter calling for him but his mind was screaming and he could not answer right away.

Peter watched Tony slump away from him, disappearing out of his vision and obscured by the edge of the bed. As he disappeared, Peter started talking, "Dad? Dad. Oh god, I'm sorry. Are you alright?" He pulled himself over the edge of the bed to look at the slumped figure but the older man did not move, just pulled his arm closer to his chest as his breath came in sharp gasps. Peter immediately realized what he had done. He pulled distractedly at the wires, his voice sharp with worry, "Dad, please say something. Please?" Then he pulled the cannula from under his nose before carefully sliding off the bed, putting all his weight on his unbroken leg and awkwardly crouching next to Tony.

But FRIDAY interrupted him, responding to his actions, "Peter, do you need assistance?"

"Yah, FRIDAY please get someone down here." Without waiting for a response, Peter turned his attention to the older man in front of him, "Dad," he laid his arm around his shoulders. The motion seemed to drag something out of him and his dad looked at him with tears in his eyes, "Hey, kid." He ground out.

Tony knew he needed to say something, knew Peter was going to get worried if he stayed quiet but damn if the pain of having nearly every bone in your hand crushed was not intense. He was in blinding pain until he felt Peter crouch down next to him. His son laid his casted arm around his shoulders and Tony forced himself to focus, he absolutely could not let Peter feel even a small amount of guilt for this. Trying to collect himself, he looked up into his son's eyes, "Hey kid." But he must not have done a good job hiding anything because Peter's face fell when he looked at him.

"Did I…did I break your hand?" The kid stuttered, shock written across his face.

"I think so, Pete." Tony ground out, trying to sound slightly more positive than he felt.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." The telltale sound of apology and agony coated his voice.

Tony felt the arm disappear from his back as Peter yanked it away. He tried to shift quick enough to catch his kid but he was too slow. He turned instead and watched as Peter fell backward, his hand on his chest. Tony instantly felt fear claw his throat, the gasping desperation of his son's failing breaths still clear in his mind. The fear overrode the pain and Tony lunged forward, grasping at him, "Peter, stop. Stop freaking out. You have to calm down. Right now. You have to calm down." Tony released his broken hand and put his working one on the side of his kid's face, looking Peter in the eye, "I need you to listen to me. You cannot panic right now." Then he tried to slow down his own panicked rambling, "Take a breath and slow down. I'm fine. Its just a broken bone, okay?"

Peter continued to gasp, even as the action caused considerable pain to build in his chest, shaking his head he squeaked out, "Its not okay. I didn't mean too – I didn't…I didn't want to hurt you. I – I thought…I thought they were back."

Tony felt the tears spring back to his eyes as he watched Peter freak out, knowing full well that he might have to watch his son gasp for breath again if he tore the stitching in his lung. "I know," he assured him quickly, crawling closer and tugging the kid into his chest, "I know what was going on Peter, please I need you to calm down. You have to relax."

Peter heard the desperation in his dad's tone as he was tugged into his chest. He tried to focus on his dad's heartbeat, tried to get his breathing under control but nothing was working. Tony's heartbeat was pounding just as hard as his and the ragged gasps of his dad were not helping. But then the older man started to run his hand up and down his back. It was slow and methodical and gave him something to focus on.

The door opened behind them and one of the doctors rushed in with a couple of nurses at her back. Tony was facing the door and immediately opened his eyes, taking his hand away from Peter's back for enough time to wave them off. They stopped in their tracks as Tony laid his head back into his son's neck, forcing his own breathing to slow down as he continued to rub his hand up and down the kid's spine. Finally, he felt Peter's gasping breaths even out, "There you go, Pete. Just relax. I'm alright, I promise." When Tony felt his son's pounding heartbeat slow, he pulled back slightly, "How about we get you back into bed, okay?"

Peter could not answer, just nod, defeated.

Tony refused to let go but gestured to the others still standing in the doorway. He directed his voice at his son though, "Pete, there are three other people here, okay? We're going to get you back into bed and then they're going to check you out while I get my hand looked at, alright?"

Peter did not trust himself to speak, instead nodding against his dad's shoulder. Then he felt another set of hands under his arms as he was lifted up and away. Almost immediately, he reached for his dad but Tony was at his side just as quickly, holding his hand as the doctor got him settled back into the bed. As soon as he was hooked back up to the machines, his dad appeared over him, squeezing his hand gently to get his attention, "Pete, I'm going to go get my hand looked at and then I'll be right back, okay? Until then, Dr. Fry is going to check you over and make sure you didn't hurt yourself."

Tony waited until the kid nodded without meeting his eyes. Sighing heavily, he pressed a kiss to his kid's forehead, "I'll be back, Pete." He said before following one of the nurses out of the room.

* * *

 **So what'd you guys think? I'm slowly working on wrapping the story up now so I'm thinking maybe three to four more chapters to finish it up.**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who is still reading :)**

 **I hope you all have a wonderful day/night and stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone! I have another chapter for my awesome readers. It's a bit of a longer one so I hope you're alright with that, I kind of got on a roll and kept writing so I figured I would just put the whole thing up here. Let me know what you think and thank you again to everyone who has already favorited/followed and reviewed, its always so awesome to see.**

 **AvengersFan30 - I don't know if I can work the Guardians in right now because I think the story is a bit too far along for that but I'm going to keep looking for ways!**

 **Well, I'm going to stop typing now.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"Tony?" Steve's voice cut across the quiet hospital room as the doctor was finishing up with his hand. The supersoldier and assassin strode into the room confusion clear on both their faces but it was Natasha who spoke, "What happened?"

Tony shrugged with one shoulder before making something up, "I fell down the stairs." He really did not want to explain what happened.

"You fell down the stairs and...broke your hand?" Natasha slowly repeated, the disbelief clear in her tone. Still, she could not brush it off. Pressing forward, she asked again, "What actually happened Stark?"

"I was messing with one of my gauntlets and it malfunctioned," Tony actually kind of congratulated himself for that one, it sounded more believable than the first.

Then Steve stepped in, retorting, "I don't believe you. There is no way you would be in your lab while Peter is laying in a hospital bed."

Tony groaned, of course the two of them would press until they had the answer, "Fine," he relented, "Pete had a nightmare and when I tried to help him, he broke my hand. It was an accident and I don't want to hear anything else about it." Tony finally snapped, knowing they would have gotten the story anyway. Then he redirected the conversation to something that actually mattered, "How long have you been back and what did you find out?"

Recognizing the deflection for what it was, Natasha answered him, a hard edge to her voice, "We've been back for a few hours but you and Peter were asleep so we figured we would dig through what we could before woke you up. You're not going to like what we found, Tony."

Tony felt his stomach drop when he heard that, how could the situation get any worse? Still, he forced himself to ask, "So what'd you get?"

Natasha gathered her thoughts for a moment before continuing, "Hammer's people had orders to destroy what they could in the event that someone found out what they were doing but I'm almost positive they thought they would have more time. From what I could piece together, they assumed that if they could get the serums working they would have some kind of protection against the fallout for how they got there." She paused to let that sink in before she gave him the worst news, "Honestly, the data destruction program was pretty sophisticated, if it hadn't been for FRIDAY, we could have lost everything. Even with her programing, some of what they did is lost."

Tony shivered at that, they needed that information, "So what have you found?" While all this was interesting, Tony was getting increasingly annoyed at their unwillingness to give some kind of solid answer. Still he was talking to probably the world's best assassin and a man who had frozen himself so he did not have much choice but to wait until they got there.

Then Natasha threw a glance at the doctor in the room, raising an eyebrow toward him. Tony got the gist and turned to the man applying the fiberglass, "How much longer do you need?"

The man looked down at the cast with a perturbed look, "Mr. Stark, I don't think you really want me hurrying to get your cast on."

"I really don't care about the cast, I'll use a gauntlet if I have to, now answer the question." Tony all but snarled at the man, the realization in the back of his mind was that he was wrong but it did not stop him.

The man threw him a face somewhere between frustration and understanding before providing the answer, "I'll be done in five minutes."

"Good, then get it done." He ordered, with a bit more anger than he intended. He knew the man was just trying to help but at the same time, he was impatient to know what they had found out about Peter and that trumped everything.

* * *

The man was practically run out of the room by the time the last piece of fiberglass was placed and Tony tried to hold the hand up to keep it relatively stable while it dried, "Alright, tell me what you found."

"We know exactly what he did to Peter," Natasha could not keep the snarl out of her tone as she said that, "And how he got ahold of him."

"Tony, you're not going to want to watch it." Steve said, stepping forward when he saw Tony's expression change into one of disturbed curiosity.

But that was not the right thing to say, as Tony rounded on him, "How about we work from the assumption that you are never going to tell me what I can and cannot see again?" Tony sniped, anger at Hammer bleeding into every aspect of his being. Still, he saw the guilt on Steve's face and immediately tried to force some of his anger under control, "I'm sorry Steve. I didn't mean that, I just – if I'm going to help him, I need to know what they did."

"It's hard to watch, Tony." Steve said with an air of finality, knowing that no matter what he said, Tony would watch it.

"Yah I'm sure it is, I saw the aftermath, remember? Just make sure I don't know where Hammer is after I watch it." Then he turned his attention back to Natasha, "What did you find out about who Hammer is working with? FRIDAY said that everything was stored on a self-contained server in the facility."

"It was. We got a few names and found the contract he was working on. Apparently, there has been a push to formulate some new enhancement serums. Its nothing new but it seemed to be an idea floated from someone in the cabinet, I'm guessing we know who that was…"

Tony stopped her there with a wave of his hand, "Was Ross's name mentioned?"

Natasha shook her head in the negative, "Not yet but there is still a good amount of data to go through so its possible we find that connection." When Tony did not ask her anything else, she kept going, "They were looking for a way to create soldiers with different abilities useful for spec ops teams. They wanted Peter because of his strength and healing. I don't think the wall crawling was a part of that or at least from what I've read it seems like that was something they thought was a trick of the suit." Natasha kept going filling Tony in on the way they kidnapped him, a knockout shot that took a bit longer than they thought to go into effect, and how they were stumped on the genetic mutations that made his abilities possible.

After a few minutes, Tony stopped her, "How much do you have?"

She smiled wickedly at that, "Enough to know what happened and enough to bury Hammer but not enough yet to figure out who, if anyone, he was working for."

Tony filled that in for her, "It was Ross," he sneered, before ordering, "find out how."

It was a testament to how angry she was that she did not question the order, instead turning on her heel and heading off to wherever she had holed up to work on this. But Steve stayed behind. Silently taking in the man sitting before him, he seemed to be contemplating his next words. Eventually, he explained his lingering presence, "Tony, we need to figure out what we're going to do. I've got ten people locked in different rooms and in varying states of consciousness. If we keep them here, its no different than what they did." He paused and looked at the exhausted man.

Tony pressed his good hand to his temple, "I know Steve, I know but we can't just let them go."

The supersoldier quickly shook his head, "I'm not saying that, we need to talk to them but we also need to be aware of the fallout if we don't take care of this quickly." He stopped as if he was going to wait for an answer but then he continued, "And if we're adding Ross into the equation now, we have a serious problem, Tony. Hammer was bad but if Ross is advocating for this, it's a threat to all of us."

Tony looked up at the concern in his friend's face, trying to reconcile all the pieces of the situation, "Yah I know. We need to talk to Hammer, I need to talk to him," Tony snarled, before reining his rage in, "For now, can you get the people you picked up to talk? If we can get information from them and Natasha finds something, we'll have a fighting chance."

* * *

"Peter?" May's clear voice rang through the dim room but when he did not answer, she turned back to Rhodes, "Are you sure this is the room?"

The Colonel looked as confused as she was, "It was when I came to get you, I can't imagine they would have changed rooms…" he trailed off before asking, "FRIDAY, is Peter still in the same room?"

"Yes Colonel, the lights are dimmed at his request."

Without waiting for her escort, May tore the door open but Rhodey held back, "FRIDAY, where's Tony?"

"Mr. Stark is currently in room 12."

For a moment, Rhodey thought about pressing that further but changed his mind, he should be with May and Peter, Tony was probably dealing with something Hammer related and he would fill him in later.

* * *

May stepped into the room and made her way to the barely visible bed, only to see her nephew laying back with his eyes closed. Thinking that he was probably just asleep, May quietly whispered his name again. This time though, quiet sniffles answered her. Crossing the floor quickly, May did not hesitate to sit down. One hand quickly finding its way into Peter's hair and the other grabbing his hand as she spoke, "Peter, can you open your eyes for me?"

Instead of simply opening his eyes, Peter sat up and immediately wrapped his arms around her, burying his head into her shoulder. He felt so stupid but he desperately needed someone who was not going to judge him for what he had done.

It only took her a second to wrap her arms around him and when she spoke the panic was clear in her tone, "Peter, honey, what's wrong? Are you in pain? Did you have a nightmare?" She tried to pull away from him to look him over but he followed her so she resorted to holding him close until he decided different.

He just nodded into her shoulder, and her immediate response was to pull back again enough to look at him. This time he let her. "Are you in pain?" She asked quickly.

"No," he managed to squeak out the lie before he forced her to pull him closer again.

"So it was a nightmare then?" She whispered, feeling her heart break when he nodded against her shoulder, "Oh baby, I'm sorry." She wrapped him up a bit tighter before looking around the room. Shooting a confused glace at James, her anger flared up as she addressed Peter again, "Was there no one in here with you? Did someone come in to help?"

Peter could hear the anger and did not want to cause any more problems for his dad so he quickly answered her, although he could not hold back the tears any longer, "Mr. Stark was in here with me. But I – " he dropped his voice and mumbled into her shoulder, "I broke his hand."

"You – what?" She had not heard him right, right? He had mumbled and what he had said was not that, Peter would never intentionally hurt anyone, especially not Tony.

Then he explained through broken tears, loud enough for her to hear, "I – I had a nightmare and he tried to calm me down but I th – I thought he…he was one of them so I bro – broke his hand. I just…just wanted them to go away." He sniffled against her sweater, feeling even worse than he already did because he was ruining her clothes.

May did not even notice. She instead was trying to wrap her head around what had happened to her nephew. Still, there was no way that anything he had done to Tony could be as terrible as it seemed, so she rubbed her hand up and down his back while whispering to him, "Oh honey, I'm sure its not that bad."

He did not respond and instead gave into the pain his body was not dealing with as quickly as he would like, crying himself to sleep on his aunt's shoulder. But as he nodded off, he could not keep the scoffing voice out of his head, god he was pathetic.

* * *

Much like earlier, Rhodey felt somewhat out of place watching someone cry and it seemed as though May had forgotten he was there anyway, so he decided to deal with one of the other problems they had. Stepping out into the hallway, he pulled out his phone and dialed Ross. As the phone started to ring, he took up guard outside the room and waited for the Secretary to answer.

On the third ring, he did, "Colonel Rhodes, nice to hear from you." The sarcasm dripping from the tone meant that if he actually decided to listen, he was in for quite an ass-chewing, "I trust you were able to take care of your situation." The mocking inflection was clear.

Rhodes knew him well enough to discern the tone, Ross expected him to answer in the affirmative, to let him continue the rant he had started before. Instead, Rhodes cut him off at the pass and directed the conversation, "Secretary, sir, I need to ask you about Justin Hammer. Am I correct to assume that he is still in prison?" It struck him that he was playing their hand but if Ross was working with Hammer then he knew the man was already missing and if he was not aware yet, he could be when they turned him over for questioning anyway.

Ross give any indication of a reaction as he answered in a flat tone, "Justin Hammer was convicted of federal crimes and sentenced to life without parole, Colonel but you are well aware of that."

God, he had been up too long to deal with this, but he needed the answer so he played the game, "Yes sir, I know his crimes, I'm asking if he's still in prison."

"Life without parole, Colonel." Ross repeated, boredom clear in his voice.

Rhodey felt the same frustration he usually felt when talking to Ross but this time it was so much worse, "Again, that is not what I asked. Just a yes or no answer will suffice, sir. Is Justin Hammer still in prison?" Rhodes could hear the hesitation on the phone and he immediately felt sick to his stomach as he realized that Tony might have been right, that Ross had something to do with Hammer.

"Are you implying I let a man accused of multiple counts of murder and destruction of property along with multiple federal charges out of jail?" The Secretary allowed a measure of anger to color his response.

Rhodes knew it was just an attempt to appear put out, "No sir. We have a situation we are trying to resolve and Justin Hammer has come up in the investigation. I'm simply asking the question, is Justin Hammer still in jail? Having an accurate answer would help with what we are working on." Rhodes knew that whatever the next thing out of his mouth was, it would be a lie. He waited patiently, the phone pressed to his ear.

"To the best of my knowledge," Rhodes groaned at the answer, plausible deniability is a bitch. Dammit, he hated it when Tony was right, "Justin Hammer is still in jail."

"So the documents that we have collected are misdated or falsified because to the best of your knowledge, Hammer is sitting in an orange jumpsuit. Is that correct, sir?"

"That is correct, Colonel Rhodes." The voice was too forced, too controlled.

Yup he was definitely lying, _shit_. "Thank you for the answer, sir."

"Colonel Rhodes, what is your team is working on that would point to Hammer?"

Now who was fishing, Rhodes thought, "Nothing concrete sir, FRIDAY intercepted a few emails that referred to members of the team and Hammer Industries was mentioned in those messages. We're just covering our bases and ensuring that none of our own will be targeted."

"Let me remind you Colonel Rhodes, your team is a private organization, tread lightly in regards to any projects that might be government related and therefore protected by classified status. If you start looking into that, you will be subject to the full force of the law." Ross made sure the threat was clear.

And Rhodey knew it, _shit again_ , "Of course, sir. I ensure you, that is not what is happening."

Seemingly placated for the time, Ross attempted to redirect the conversation, "Do you have time to finish our earlier conversation or are you still too busy?"

"Sir, I'm afraid this needs to take precedence, I've already spoken to Tony and he's agreed to inform the FAA of any future flights. I'll contact you if we get anything more concrete." Waiting for just enough time to hear a confirmation of that promise, Rhodey hung up, not wanting to get caught in another conversation. Slipping the phone back into his pocket, Rhodes slid into a chair near the door and dropped his head into his hands, this was going to be a fight.

* * *

"What's up Rhodey?" Tony called as he stepped into the hallway, shaking Rhodes out of his thoughts.

He responded automatically, well aware that Tony would be pissed about it, "I talked to Ross."

Tony stiffened, squashing the anger somewhat but still growling a response, "And?"

Rhodes looked up at him with a stony expression, speaking bluntly he filled him in, "He won't ever admit it Tony but my gut tells me he had something to do with this."

"Shit," Tony echoed Rhodes's earlier sentiment.

"What are we going to do?" Rhodey asked, he had been thinking about it since the call and he still did not have an answer.

Tony's anger did though, "Stop him. Kill him. Get him fired. I don't give a damn anymore Rhodey. He crossed the line. But it doesn't matter, Steve and Natasha are working on that right now." Tony's voice was hard, with small intonations of mania that made Rhodes nervous.

"Tony…" Rhodes started, thankful that he had been the one to call but also taking in the rest of his answer, "What are Steve and Nat working on?"

Tony quickly filled him in on the documents they collected and what they were trying to piece together. Then he quickly changed the subject, swiping his good hand in front of his face, "What are you doing down here?"

Rhodey took the change in stride, answering with slightly more confidence, "May finally made it in and she wanted to see Peter so I brought her here. I kind of assumed you would already be here." He wanted to know what had driven Tony out of the room because when he had looked in earlier, he could have never imagined him leaving.

But Tony dove right past Rhodes inherent question as he felt a small amount of panic rise up in his throat, "Pete was awake when she went in, right?" Peter would never forgive himself if he hurt his aunt.

Rhodes looked at him confused, "I think so…" he trailed off as he saw the bulking white fiberglass on Tony's hand, "What happened Tony?"

"Peter had a nightmare." It was more difficult for him to lie to Rhodey and so the answer was the truth but a bit quieter and self-conscious.

"He broke your hand?" Rhodes could not help but ask, he could tell Tony did not want to talk about it but he needed to know.

Waving the broken appendage in front of him, Tony just sighed, done repeating the story already, "Yup he did. It was an accident and he already feels bad about it so get your comments out now. If anyone says anything about my hand in his presence I will beat them with this cast." Tony snarled unnecessarily.

Rhodes held his hands up in front of him in surrender, squashing the other questions that popped into his head, "Never mind, I get it."

Thankful that at least one of those conversations was resolved, he asked the thing he was really curious about, "Why are you out here, other than the phone call?"

Rhodes shrugged, "May is in there with him and I thought that given how upset he was, a question I now have an answer to," he said, gesturing down at the cast, "I should leave. But you should definitely go talk to her."

* * *

"May?" Tony called when he stepped into the doorway. He saw her almost immediately. She was curled up on the bed next to Peter as he slept on her shoulder.

She carefully rolled her head back, enough to look at him but not enough to move her nephew. As soon as Tony stepped close enough, he could see the worry and concern in her dark eyes. He also saw her eyes move down to the white cast on his hand. Immediately, her brows creased in concern, and Tony heard her whisper under her breath, "I thought he was exaggerating."

"Not this time." Tony said tiredly, sitting carefully down next to her.

"Peter did that?" Even seeing the evidence in front of her, she still found it so hard to believe.

Tony nodded, his voice quiet, "Yah, he did. It was an accident and most of it was my fault, I shouldn't have tried to calm him down the way I did, I just thought I was getting through to him when he grabbed my hand."

She looked him in the eye, intent clear in her question, "How bad is it Tony?"

But Tony refused to answer that. The truth was that his hand was pretty badly mangled and it had been quite a process getting the bones back into place but no one else needed to know that. So he took the other implication, "He'll be okay, May. He's got a few broken bones and they need to keep him under observation for a few days but he's strong. I'm more worried about the nightmares than anything but anything he needs I'll take care of it."

She nodded a few times, taking in his words, "Thank you, Tony." Then she looked back down at his hand, she needed an answer to that story too, "How bad is that?"

Tony decided the lie was better here, "It's a few bones but it'll heal, I've had worse. May, this is not a problem." He held up the casted arm just to make sure she took his meaning and so she could move off the topic.

But she persisted, "It is a problem though Tony because he's upset about it. That's the first thing he told me about."

"I was afraid he was," Tony answered her concerned gaze. "He wouldn't look at me after it happened. I'm sure he thinks I'm mad at him." He glanced at the sleeping kid in her arms.

"Of course he does." May replied, before pressing her own solution, "You need to talk to him about it as soon as you can."

"Well, I'm not angry." Tony said, a hint of petulance in his tone, "if that kid ever actually wanted to hurt me, I would be in a world of trouble and I am well aware of that." He sighed, "But you're right, I'll talk to him about it."

The conversation fell there as both considered the kid curled in May's grasp. Eventually, Tony felt his own eyes start to droop, it had been a long day, and he broke the silence of the room. Looking up at May, he asked, "Would you mind if I stayed in here tonight? The chair is fine, I just - " he paused as he tried to explain himself, "I just would like to be in here."

May looked at him like he had suddenly sprouted another head, "Tony are you actually asking me that? He calls you 'dad', what right do I have to ask you to leave the room?" She smirked at his need to ask.

"I just want to make sure I'm not overstepping, he is still your nephew." Tony said, completely sincerely.

She laughed a bit at that, Peter would have objected to them talking about him like he had no say in the matter but she still answered, "It's fine, Tony."

Tony stood and moved over to the cupboard to grab a blanket before relaxing in the chair closest to the bed. Pulling the blanket over him, his tiredness slammed into him immediately and he quickly fell asleep.

* * *

It was the next afternoon before Tony finally woke up. His back was a bit stiff but overall, he felt better, a bit more level-headed. May and Peter were talking softly in an attempt to keep from waking him up but as soon as he blinked his eyes open, they both looked over at him. "Good morning, Tony." May said, her bright tone lightening the inherent sorrow in the room. Tony could not help but notice that Peter mumbled, "Good morning, dad" but did not look at him. Chalking that up to needing to talk, Tony looked back over as May started talking again, "Tony do you think you could watch him while I run home? If I'm going to be staying here, I'm going to need a few more changes of clothes."

"Of course I can watch him." Tony answered, grateful and nervous in equal measure for her intuition.

Turning back to her nephew, May leaned over and kissed his forehead, "I'll be back soon, Peter." He wrapped her in a tight hug and told her he loved her before she turned back to Tony, "Think you can show me out? I don't exactly have a car here."

"Trust me, I can take care of that." Tony smirked, knowing Happy would love to take another Parker back to the city.

* * *

Having taken care of May, Tony turned himself back toward his son's room, they needed to have a rather awkward conversation. He took a deep breath outside the room before pressing the door open. His voice carried easily across the quiet room, "How're ya doing, Pete?"

Peter knew his dad would be coming back and he knew they would need to talk about what happened but he did not want to, so he sat as a bundled nerve waiting for Tony to come back in the room. He could not handle it if the man was mad at him for what he had done and a large part of him kept reminding him that he would be so when Tony stepped back inside, Peter could not answer him, instead he resolutely turned his face toward the wall.

Tony just sighed, closed the gap quickly and sat down on the edge of the bed, laying his good hand in Peter's loose one and squeezing it lightly.

Peter flinched at the motion. It was too normal, too comforting, too many things he did not deserve. He could not hurt him again, so he started to pull his hand away but it was at best a halfheartedly attempt and his dad held firm.

"Peter," Tony started, "I'm not afraid of you, okay? I'm not going to stop because you accidently hurt me." His voice was gentle, understanding.

Peter could not take the empathy and rolled his head away farther away but forced his voice to carry, "I didn't just accidentally hurt you, dad. I broke your hand."

Tony did not want to see Peter get worked up again because of him, "I'm fine, I promise. I have had broken bones before and I will have them again but you cannot blame yourself for this." He needed to get the kid to believe him, he needed Peter to understand.

"It was literally my fault." Peter answered the wall in a flat tone.

But Tony was adamant, "No, it wasn't. It was Hammer's. We would not be in this position if it wasn't for him. This isn't your fault."

Peter finally turned to look at him, tears pooling in his eyes and his voice thick with emotion, "Dad." He cried, "I broke your hand. Please just blame me." Peter begged for the responsibility to be laid on his shoulders.

Tony was as stubborn as his son and he had twenty more years of practice. Shaking his head, he remained adamant, "I won't do it Pete. I can't. This isn't your fault and if you haven't noticed yet, I'm here to help, not to blame. Come on kid, gimme this one." Peter finally looked up at him at that but he had such a look of self-loathing that Tony could not handle it. He tugged at the hand he was holding and pulled Peter into his chest again, feeling the kid's defiance break as he burrowed into his neck and shoulder. Tony quickly wrapped both arms around him, "I won't blame you, Pete. I won't do it." He felt the kid start to sob against his collarbone as he laid them both back against the pillow. They settled in easily. Tony relaxed into the, somehow more comfortable, pillow and adjusted Peter on his chest. His kid continued to sob, clutching at the fabric of his shirt, repeatedly whispering, "I'm sorry."

"Pete," Tony responded, tears thickening his own response, "Don't apologize. I've gotcha, remember? Whatever that means, I'm in." They needed to talk but this was not the time, so he simply pulled his son close and held him until his sobs slowed.

Finally, Peter spoke, "I just – I feel so off."

Tony flinched at the despondency in his tone, "What do you mean, Pete?"

"I don't know…" he trailed off, the frustration clear, "I just – why couldn't I stop them? I'm Spider-Man, I was stronger than all of them, why couldn't I stop them?"

Tony immediately responded, desperate to get him to understand, "Pete, you didn't have a chance. They drugged you, beat you, cut you, and I know you fought back beyond when anyone else would have given up. Cap told me about the door, the one you tore off the hinges. He couldn't even figure out how you did it. The problem was they were prepared for you to fight and you weren't prepared for them to force you to."

Peter just hummed into his dad's shirt, not really buying the answer.

Tony looked down to see if he was still awake, thinking he had somehow dozed off but when he saw the bright eyes staring blindly at the wall across from them, he continued, "You know that sedative they gave you ruined your healing ability, right? That means that everything you did, every fight you took, was without any healing." Tony could not help but flash back to the little Natasha had told him about from the tape, "You re-broke your wrist and they broke your leg and you still fought, no one else would have been able to do that." But the kid still did not respond. In muted frustration, Tony curled his finger under Peter's chin, he could not let him wallow. Forcing him to look up, Tony caught his eye, "Peter, I've told you about the time I was in the cave, right?"

"Yah but you got out of that on your own." Peter almost whined, again reminded of how pathetic he was.

"No I didn't." Tony obdurately corrected, "If Yensen had not taken off down that hallway, they would have killed me in the suit. I might have tried to fight back but without him I would have been dead without question. He helped me at the beginning, before anything could even get started. You fought as hard as you could Peter, I just helped a bit at the end."

Peter let that sink in as he held his dad's eyes. He was trying to reconcile what had happened to him with what had happened to Tony and trying to figure out if his dad really believed that or just thought he was just a screw-up and was trying to make him feel better. The longer Peter watched him though, the more obvious it was that there was nothing but love and concern in the older man's gaze.

Tony knew he was studying him, looking for any hint that their relationship had changed but he was also confident he would find nothing to support that. When the kid did not say anything, Tony started talking again, "Pete, this sucks, there is no way around it but it is also not your fault. You stayed alive, you did what you needed to get help and now your only job is to heal. I've told you before that I can't lose you again and nothing about what happened changes that. You're not weak, you didn't fail, you just needed help." Tony saw the tears in the kid's eyes again and just to finish off the sentiment he added, "I love you, Pete." He poured all the honesty he could into that declaration, needing him to understand that they were fine.

Peter could not help but smile at the sincerity, "I love you too, dad. Thanks. For everything." He sighed deeply as he tucked his head back into his dad's collarbone. It was not gone, but it felt like part of a weight had been lifted off his chest.

"Don't mention it, kid." Tony said as he wrapped his arms more tightly around him. The casted arm was heavy but not nearly as painful as it was watching Peter doubt anything about himself. As Peter relaxed, Tony asked, "Do you think you could get a bit more sleep?"

Peter tensed at that but tried to cover it, "I've been sleeping so much already, I think I just want to stay up for a bit."

Tony knew what he was doing so instead of fighting him, he put his hands in his kid's hair, carding through the greasy locks. "FRIDAY, play Return of the Jedi," he ordered, feeling Peter smile against his chest. Twisting just slightly, he looked down, "What? You said you weren't tired so now you can watch the best Star Wars movie with me."

Peter's grin grew, "Dad," he could not help but exaggeratedly whine, "You know Empire is the best one."

Tony shrugged exaggeratedly, "Best story maybe but the better fights are definitely Jedi."

* * *

When May walked back into the room, she could not help the warmth that spread through her at the sight that greeted her. Tony was asleep on the bed with Peter tucked carefully into his side. Unwilling to wake them up after what had happened the day before, May took up the closest seat to the bed and pulled out her book, resolving to wait until the two woke up.

* * *

 **So there's the next chapter for you! I'm thinking about two more chapters to finish up this story. Let me know what you think!**

 **I hope everyone is having a good day/night and stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's another chapter for my awesome readers! Thank you so much for everyone who is still with me and I hope you enjoy this next installment.**

 **Also I to answer Ikia's question, I just kind of assumed that since Pepper was a CEO of a major company that she would keep her name so Pepper and Tony are married but she stayed with Potts. I also think its partially because I really like the alliteration of her name and this way I get to keep that :) I hope that makes sense but thank you so much for asking!**

 **Well that's all I have for now, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

It was not long after May sat down that Pepper stepped up to the closed door, Morgan balanced on her hip. As soon as they stepped within sight of the door, Morgan leaned over to look through the window. He teetered forward in her grip, "Peter, daddy," the little boy called softly.

"We're going inside, sweetie just hold on," she cooed as she tugged the door open before quietly tiptoeing through the threshold. Morgan started to squirm in her grasp the closer they got to the bed and she was so caught up in keeping him from wiggling away that she did not notice the room's third occupant. Pepper jumped when she heard the soft voice, quickly pulling Morgan closer to her instinctually before relaxing as soon as she saw May leaned over the back of the chair.

May turned as soon as she heard the doorknob start to turn, immediately recognizing the red hair of Tony's wife and watching as the woman wrestled with her three year old. Smirking at the sight, May quietly said, "Hello Pepper," as she leaned on the back of the chair. But she realized the woman had not known she was there when she jumped and quickly turned Morgan away from the source of the sound. "I'm sorry!" May exclaimed as she sat up higher in the chair, feeling immensely guilty for scaring her.

Pepper collected herself after a moment, her shoulders relaxing when she realized who it was, "It's alright. I didn't know you were here. I'm glad you are though." She said with a small smile as she took up the seat next to Peter's aunt. Almost as soon as they sat down, little boy was more interested in the two on the bed, "Daddy, Peter." He called again, reaching toward them both.

"Sweetie, you can see them when they wake up, but they still need to sleep for a little longer." She carefully turned the little boy in her lap, hoping to distract him a bit, "Right now you should be polite and say hello."

The little boy turned to face the dark haired woman, "Hi Aunt May," he said quietly, echoing the name he had always heard Peter call her.

"Hi, Morgan." May said tiredly. She could not help herself as she brushed back the little boy's unruly hair, smiling sickly at how much it reminded her of Peter when he was younger. Still she forced herself to focus on the young boy, "How are you today?"

The blue eyes fixed on her, "Okay." He said, more subdued than normal as he glanced back up to the bed. Looking back at May, he decided to take his shot at getting what he wanted, "Can I see Peter and Daddy, please?"

"I think you have to ask your mom about that, baby." May answered sadly, brushing her hand across Morgan's cheek as the tears sprung to his eyes.

The little boy craned his neck to look backward, "Please mommy," he cried again.

Pepper saw the tears welling up as well so she hugged him closer, "Morgan, I promise, as soon as they wake up you can sit with them as long as you want. But you have to wait okay?"

Morgan turned back to May as the tears began to fall and the sniffles started, "Mommy said I have to wait."

"I heard her baby," May responded, rubbing the tips of her fingers across the little boy's cheek as she dried his tears. "Don't worry, your daddy and Peter have been sleeping for a good while so I'm sure they'll wake up soon."

"Okay," he squeaked out, his lip quivered but the tears slowed. The conversation fell there as the small group lapsed into a comfortable silence. At least until Morgan decided that he did not appreciate the quiet any longer and he started to talk about something he had learned from one of the books Peter had bought him for his birthday. As the little boy talked, Pepper could not help but hear the May's quiet sniffs as her son talked about how much he loved the book and how he couldn't wait for his brother to wake up so he could read it to him. Pepper discreetly reached over and grabbed May's hand where it rested on the chair between them, giving it a comforting squeeze.

May looked up at her quickly with a thankful smile but did not pull her hand away. So they sat there, listening to the calming simplicity of Morgan's story and relying on each other's strength.

* * *

He would not be able to pinpoint what finally woke him but something forced Tony awake. Bleary eyed, he slowly took in the ceiling, stretching slightly around the younger man still held against his chest. His surroundings came back to him slowly until he realized that the sound breaking the quiet in the room was the whispered but still very audible chattering of his younger son. He carefully twisted in the bed, taking in the three people sitting next to the bed.

Pepper heard the mattress shift and groan as her husband turned. Unconsciously, she glanced away from May and took in the searching brown eyes of her husband. She could not help but smile brightly at him, "Morning, Tony." She said sweetly, holding tighter to the now more agitated Morgan.

Tony's voice was scratchy and deeper than normal, especially with Peter's weight still resting on his chest, "Hey Pep, May." He shifted a little more to try to force himself to wake up and stop the tingling sensation that was quickly growing in the arm under his son.

May waited for him to readjust his position and refocus on them before she greeted him as well, "Hi again, Tony."

Then Peter decided to join them in the land of the living. He stretched as well as he could in his dad's arms but without opening his eyes he started talking, his voice nearly as rough as Tony's, "Did I miss the end of the movie?"

Tony chuckled deeply, "Yah kid, ya did. But that's okay, we can watch it again later." He took the time to roll his shoulders a bit more to work out the kinks as he ordered, "Open your eyes, Pete, there's a few people here to see you."

Peter's eyes snapped open and he quickly tried to press himself up so he could look at who Tony was talking about. His eyes brightened as he took in the visitors, "May, Pepper" he said excitedly, feeling like he had more energy than he had in what felt like a long time. Then he saw the little boy bouncing in Pepper's arms and he felt his smile widen and crinkle the corners of his eyes, "Hey Morgan."

Immediately, the little boy pulled harder at his mom's arms as he stretched toward the bed, his fingers gripping the air, "You promised, mommy." He whined.

Pepper looked down at him, "Hold on, sweetie." Then she glanced up to Tony, "Can he sit on the bed with you? He's been waiting since he woke up this morning." She curled him a little tighter against her chest as he wiggled against her.

Tony carefully regarded his son, "Of course, but no jumping remember?"

"I 'member," Morgan answered, holding his excitement in check as he realized he was about to get what he wanted. Pepper took that cue and cautiously set the little boy on the bed, guiding him carefully onto the mattress.

As Morgan crawled up onto the bed, he settled between Tony and Peter, looking up at the two men sitting beside him. Then he rolled over and hugged Peter around the waist, "I'm glad you woke up, Mommy said I was not allowed to sit with you until you did." Then he gave Peter a big smile, "Aunt May said that you would wake up soon though. She was right." He dove back into the younger man's grasp, earning a slightly pained _umph_ from Peter. Almost immediately, Tony grabbed at Morgan, trying to catch his small torso and tug him away from Peter's chest, the panic clear in his tone, "Pete, are you alright?"

"Yah, I'm fine, dad. He just caught me off guard, I'm alright." He reassured, even while his tightened voice betrayed the pain his brother had caused. Still, he tightening his good arm around Morgan's waist.

Tony shot him a skeptical look but loosened the hold he had managed to make on Morgan's shoulder before addressing the younger Stark, "Morgan, you said you remembered what I told you before. You still cannot jump on Peter, okay?"

Morgan nodded exaggeratedly against Peter's stomach before he rolled his head over to look at Tony, "I know daddy, I'm sorry. I won't do it again." Then he quickly buried himself back into his brother's arms, tucking his head into the puddled blankets around his chest.

Peter smiled down at the little boy and wrapped his arms tighter around him. Then he looked up at his Aunt and Pepper, finally feeling awake and rested for the first time. The small, unusual family released an unconscious sigh of relief as they all were finally able to interact with each other for the first time since this happened. They settled in quickly. The conversation was dull, small talk of very little substance but it was comforting and normal, allowing everyone to finally take a deep breath.

* * *

"We need to get everyone together, we have to get everyone on the same page. It's been two days and we need to get moving on this." Steve said, sitting with his hands clasped in front of him on the table.

"We really shouldn't do that without Tony," Rhodey interjected, standing with his arms crossed in front of him as he contemplated the floor.

"You're right, Rhodes but that also means we have to get him to leave that room," Steve said hesitantly only to be cut off by Natasha.

"Steve you know him better than that," the woman admonished, breaking her contemplative silence, "If you tell him we have to do something to deal these people he will be here. He won't like it but he'll be here."

Steve nodded slightly in response, knowing that she was more than likely right but not completely convinced. Still there were other matters to discuss, "Fine then we need to decide on our next step. Who's here at the Compound?"

Natasha appreciated the restored focus, "We need to find out if Hammer was able to get any of that information to any other facilities. If we don't get everything they could feasibly do this again much more effectively. We got lucky this time because Hammer didn't know how close Tony and Peter were, but if it happens again, we won't get him back." She paused, a serious expression the only betrayal of how upset she was, as she continued, "We won't easily be able to find anyone if it happens again."

"They were that close?" Rhodes asked, the implication hanging in the air.

"Yes," Natasha responded sincerely, "They were. We didn't even know he was gone. Without that phone call, we probably would not have found him quickly enough to help. Hammer Industries has advanced a lot since Justine took over. Our major problem is there are still people unaccounted for, scientists and doctors who are on the records but that we didn't find. Not to mention the security," the derision in her voice was clear, "personnel that I have payment information for that we have not been able to find. Basically, we need to clean all this up because that is the only way to shut it down for good." She laid her hands flat on the table in front of her, pressing the pads of her fingers into the cold table and keeping her anger under careful control.

"Do you have enough information to find everyone?" Rhodes asked.

Natasha nodded trepidatiously, even as the confidence wavered slightly in her tone, "I think so, there is only one other major facility connected directly to Justin Hammer but I can't confirm that they'll be there."

"What is the possibility you find them for sure?" Rhodes pressed.

"I don't know," Natasha answered, annoyance peeking through, "I've gone through the bulk of the information but I think we might need to go to the facility because if there was unwired storage at the Northampton location, there will probably be another there. That would be the place to stop this from going any farther."

"Okay," Steve started pensively, "if that is the case then we need to let everyone know. If this is going to move beyond this isolated incident, we need to make sure that everyone understands the risks."

"That's not it Steve," Natasha sighed.

"What else is there, Nat?" Rhodes asked, the tension in his posture obvious.

"Tony was right about Ross. I don't think he knew exactly how they got Peter as the test subject but he definitely knew that they were going to use the kid," Natasha could feel the tension in the room escalate as the sudden burst of anger filled the room. Unfortunately, she was not done, "He's also the one that gave the contract to Hammer along with some of our records. It wasn't just Peter, Steve," she said, anger finally slipping into her tone, "it was you, Bucky, Wanda, and Bruce. Peter was just the easiest one to grab."

"But that also means that Ross outed him to Hammer," Rhodey expanded.

"And everyone else in that facility." Steve finished. The small group sat in silence for a bit before the Captain continued, "Tony's going to kill him. He's going to kill Ross." Then he quietly added, "I'm going to help him."

"Me too," Natasha quipped.

"No." Rhodey stepped forward, "He cannot go after Ross, we can't go after Ross. What Tony did to Hammer was bad enough but we can't protect him if he goes after the Secretary of State."

"He won't," Steve replied heavily, "but this entire situation just got more difficult." Steve said, carefully pressing his hands together in front of him, controlling the anger bubbling in his gut.

* * *

Pepper and May watched the boys talk, Morgan was tucked into Peter's side and Tony hovered the best he could beside the two. Then Pepper decided to ask May what she really needed to ask, "May…" she started, seeing the fatigue in the woman's face and understanding the worry, laying her free hand on the woman's shoulder, she quietly asked, "May, how are you doing?"

The deep brown eyes met Pepper's, thankful for the question, "I'm holding it together but its hard, you know?" She let her eyes wander back over at the three in the bed and as she did, she felt Pepper grab her hand again, squeezing softly and carefully drawing her attention back. May forced herself to refocus, speaking quietly so she did not disturb them, "I'll be alright. I know Peter will be fine, I just worry about what's going to happen to him when he's healed. What if he can't go back to Spider-Man? What if he can't move on from this? He's already been through so much, I just...I wish he could catch a break."

Pepper contemplated the woman in front of her, trying to figure out what she could say to help. She could not help but see the similarities between the way May thought about Peter and the way Tony talked about him. Slowly, she collected her thoughts, "Peter is the strongest person I have ever met." She said honestly, "A lot of that is inherent but I also think he draws strength from the people around him. He's strong because of you, because of Ben, because of Tony and Morgan." Pepper murmured, "I have every confidence that he will come back from this because he stumbles, he has you and Tony and the rest of the Avengers to lean on."

May smiled through her watery eyes, as she looked back up at the woman next to her, "Don't forget yourself, Pepper. Peter talks about you a lot too, you help ground him, especially with Tony around." May smirked as she squeezed the hand she realized Pepper was still holding, "Thank you, Pepper. For everything." Then Tony's sudden burst of laughter was followed quickly by Peter's as Morgan continued to chatter on while looking between the two, a broad smile on his face as he enjoyed the interaction. The sudden outburst drew both of their attention as Morgan repeated himself and May and Pepper joined back into the conversation.

Eventually though, the conversation lulled again as Morgan's eyes started to slip closed even while he tried to fight it. That left Peter and Tony talking quietly about something they were looking at on one of the StarkPads. Knowing she did not want to ask Tony or Peter yet, May leaned over and asked one more thing of the woman sitting next to her. She whispered just loudly enough for Pepper to hear, "Do you know what happened?"

When Pepper met her eyes, May saw the incredible sorrow there, "Honestly, May, I don't know much, but I'll tell you what I can. A couple of days ago, Peter called Tony and said he needed help. That someone took him. Tony left immediately after that. The next thing I heard was when FRIDAY called me and told me to get to the Compound. I called you as soon as I could. But unfortunately that's all I know." As soon as she saw May's face fall, Pepper quickly continued, "I also know that the others are working on it, they'll piece together exactly what happened. And they'll find the people who did this." Then Pepper looked almost sheepishly at May, "It might be a good idea to ask Peter too."

The dark haired woman nodded in agreement, "I was going to but I guess I was just worried about what he was going to say and I was hoping to get a bit of an idea before I asked."

Then FRIDAY's voice cut through the room, interrupting both conversations, "Boss, Colonel Rhodes has asked for your presence in the conference room."

Tony groaned, "Ask him if its really that important."

There was a slight pause before that Irish brogue came back, "He said it is of the utmost importance."

"Fine," Tony grumbled as he slowly extricated himself from the tangle of limbs and sheets. He carefully slipped his arm from behind Peter's back as he made sure the kid was comfortably laid back into the pillows. Then he slid off the edge of the bed, wary of moving the mattress too much as he remorsefully moved away from his sons. "I'll be back soon," he promised the room as he stepped out in the hallway to see what his friend wanted.

* * *

As Tony walked into the conference room, he saw the gathered Avengers. Steve, Bucky, and Natasha were talking softly to Bruce, who had apparently just gotten in from his conference given the name tag still stuck on his jacket. He had a sick look on his face as he listened to what they were saying. Rhodey was sitting at the front of the table with Clint, Sam, Vision, and Wanda. Tony took a deep breath and stepped up to an empty chair, snapping his fingers before slamming his fists together, a nervous habit that paradoxically grabbed everyone's attention. "I'm guessing you found something," Tony started as the conversations stopped and everyone turned toward him.

Rhodey spoke up, "We did Tony, but its worse than we thought. We," he gestured to Steve and Natasha, "figured we needed to get everyone up to speed." The quiet chatter started up again until Rhodey continued, "Most everyone knows pieces and parts of the story but if this is going to come to our doorstep, everyone has the right to know what we're getting into. But you're going to have to start, Tony." He flashed his friend an apologetic look as he essentially threw him into the thick of it.

Tony took in their confused faces as the tension of the mystery hit each of them and for once he did not know what to say. Tony took a moment and tried to collect his thoughts, deciding where he was going to start. Eventually he took a deep breath and started at the beginning, "Pete called me three days ago and told me that he did not know where he was and that someone had been hurting him." Tony was terrified of the fact that they were all just looking at him with varying degrees of horror, but he continued, filling them on the abridged version of events. Finally, he made it to the end, explaining why they were even there, "I pulled him out but they hurt him pretty badly and he needed more help than I could give so I brought him here. Once I got him back, Steve, Bucky, Natasha, and Sam cleared out the facility where they were holding him and found some of the people responsible and the records they had been keeping on what they were doing." He took a breath and held his hands out to his side before he sat down in the chair in front of him. "That's all I have though, Rhodey…" Tony intoned, turning over the floor to his immense relief.

Rhodes looked over at Natasha as she quickly started to fill everyone in on everything she had found out, including laying the full threat out for everyone around her. She had to physically ignore Tony as she told them about what they had done, about what Ross had helped facilitate. Even without looking at him, she could feel the intense hatred and anger radiating off him, only to be amplified by everyone else in the room. The tension was palpable and it made it even more difficult for her to keep herself calm. Instead, she focused on Clint and Steve, knowing that both would ground her. Finally, she turned to Steve.

The Captain spoke up, "We have Hammer and some of his staff here but we need to figure out the next step. This has become a larger issue than what happened to Peter and we need to decide what we are going to do because the longer we keep them here, the more dangerous it is for us. But we also know we need to do something to protect ourselves."

Tony took that as his cue, "If anyone wants to leave, I understand. I'll make sure you have somewhere secure to go other than the Compound but Peter needs to stay here and we can't turn those people over yet, we need to take care of this before we turn them over to the government." He looked at each of the Avengers individually, making sure they understood the sincerely of his offer, "I will handle everything."

There was a solemn pall that fell over the room as the implications of everything sank in and each Avenger considered their course of action. But Clint broke the silence, looking over at Natasha first before he looked up at Tony, "We're staying here, Stark. Pete's one of us and this is too dangerous for us to ignore." No one questioned his answer, for which Tony was infinitely, and selfishly, thankful. Then the archer continued, "How is he?"

It was only after Clint asked that Tony realized he had not mentioned how Peter was doing, "He's going to be alright. He's finally starting to heal again and he'll be able to move back into his room probably tomorrow." Then Tony rethought his easy acceptance, "Clint, are you sure you want to stay? Wanda, Bruce, I understand if you don't want to be a part of anything that could be coming, especially if they had your files too."

Again it was Clint who answered first, "Stark, you helped me get my family back, now its my turn to help you protect yours. To protect everyone else here." He glanced over at Wanda and Bruce, then Steve and Bucky, all nodded in agreement. Clint leaned forward into the table and continued, "What do you need us to do?"

Tony gave him a sharp nod and an abrupt "thanks" but he turned to face Natasha, "Romanov, I need your help."

She immediately looked away from Clint and turned her attention toward him, a slight grin on her face as if she already knew what he was thinking, "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to help me break someone." Tony snarled, his own lips curled into a deadly smirk, mimicking the look the assassin was giving him.

The grin turned into a feral smile as the dangerous glint in her eye broke through the reserved demeanor she had been portraying, "Hammer?" She asked slowly.

Tony nodded sharply.

"It would be my pleasure," she snarled.

Bruce looked at the two of them, feeling the anger pass between them before he looked over to Steve, "What do the rest of us need to do?"

Steve answered easily, "We have a lead on another one of the facilities they were using so we're going to raid it. Natasha needs a bit more information to completely make the case so we're collecting as much as we can. There was a server at the last place and we're assuming there is something similar there, but we need to get to the server before they can wipe anything. The secondary objective is to arrest anyone who played a role in what happened. We've been able to put together a full list from the prisoners we have and from the records we were able to recover."

"When do we leave?" Wanda asked.

"In two days." Steve answered.

* * *

 **There you go! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the direction I'm trying to take the story in. Feel free to let me know what you think in the reviews.**

 **And Ikia, I hope the Pepper/May scenes were okay, I've been writing some scenes with them together and I like the idea of playing up that friendship a bit more so I hope this fit in with what you were thinking!**

 **That's all I have for now, I hope everyone has a wonderful night/day and stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey amazing readers! I have another chapter ready for you. Thank you so much for all your faves/follows and reviews. You guys are amazing!**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Natasha crossed the length of the room, shoulders pulled back and severe eyes locking on Hammer's hunched form as soon as she strode inside. As the door snapped shut behind her, his head shot up and a flash of fear broke across his face before he managed to cover it. Natasha did not react. She kept the detached expression as she snatched the handcuffs and yanked hard, pulling him off the bed before throwing him bodily into the desk chair on the other side of the room. From there, she deftly pulled a chair to the side of the chained man, sitting swiftly as she laid a manila folder on her lap. She stared at him for a moment, turning her head slightly to the side to study him before shrugging and turning to the documents on her lap. She flipped through a few pages, disinterest clear in her face as she examined the information. She waited, perfectly comfortable in the quiet and enjoying the sense of uneasiness slowly beginning to build in the room.

Justin watched the stoic woman deliberately sit down next to him and open a folder. For whatever reason, the silence and the disinterest she was showing in the documents heightened his tension. Justin could not help the sweat that he felt curl at the back of his neck, he knew her reputation and for the first time since he had woken up in this room, he felt true fear coil sickeningly in his stomach. It had just been Tony before, had he gone to the others? Hammer had just assumed it would have been his hotheaded friend asking any questions. The presence of the Black Widow unnerved him more than he thought it would. Were there other Avengers…here? Then he realized he was not actually sure where he was. The complete uncertainty and his lack of control of the situation caused that coil to tighten, almost forcing him to bend forward. He could not help but wring his hands in his lap, rubbing intermittently at the rashes created by the handcuffs, and attempting to anticipate what she was going to say. When she finally said something. Justin could feel his frustration building even as he tried to squash the feeling and maintain his unperturbed façade.

Natasha relaxed slightly into her chair, letting her shoulder drop slightly in exaggerated comfort. All while she continued to flip through the pages, inwardly smirking to herself while she watched Hammer squirm in his seat and attempt to hide it. Playing to his nerves, she let out a drawn, bored sigh as she let the pages flip to the front again.

Justin knew what she was doing. He might not have been the great Tony Stark but he was smart enough to understand what she was trying to do so he could not figure out why he could feel his hands starting to sweat where they were pressed against each other or why that thin bead down his back was repeating itself. For as smart as he was, he could not figure out why her presence was working.

Natasha was enjoying herself. She preferred jobs with some kind of meaning, its why she worked for Cap, but this was even more satisfying than normal. That thought satiated her for now. She bided her time and focused on the documents she knew to the word because the longer he sat there, the more off kilter he would be when he finally started talking to her. Natasha knew she did not need much, just Ross's name but she also knew that she needed to find it without the method of motivation that she badly wanted to use.

Justin's mind started to spin the longer he sat. Was there a ticking clock in the room he had not seen? Or was that just his mind's continuing reminder that he was, in fact, screwed? Clearly she had information on him, he could see his name on the documents, but she was not asking anything. Her silent presence was perturbing, distracting. What did she know? What was Tony actually able to get? He did not actually remember leaving Northampton so the trip had to have been fast which would have meant anyone who was left was charged with wiping the system. His software was good, it should have deleted everything so did she have information or was she just fishing? Obviously, Tony had found enough to know that he was involved but what else were they able to find? He could feel his hands start to shake as he thought about what she was going to say. Then his mind circled back to the ever growing question, did the Avengers already know? A drip of sweat slid down his forehead. He swore under his breath as the fear morphed into terror.

She heard the cursing and had to quickly hide the smirk that crossed her face, she was getting to him. Still, she let her mind wander as she waited for him to talk a bit more. Tony had wanted to come into the room with her, something she explicitly forbid. She could be patient, he could not and tearing Hammer limb from disgusting limb would not help them with anything. So she had made him promise he would wait for her to get what she wanted and then he was free to be in the room, with her, when they corroborated the information they already had documentation on.

They sat that way for another fifteen minutes.

The silence in the room made him want to curse, to yell, so in response he bit down hard on his tongue as he continued to try to keep himself from talking first. Why was this working?

Another twenty minutes passed, the only sounds in the room were the creaking of the Hammer's chair as he squirmed around his bonds and the flipping of pages as Natasha continued her perusing of the folder.

Finally, the fluttering sound of papers sliding back to the beginning again was too much for him. "What the hell do you want?" Hammer snapped as the beads of sweat started rolling down the side of his face.

Natasha again had to squash the smile as he started to talk. She heard his question, obviously, but she kept her eyes fixed to the pages for a few more moments until she slowly, almost lazily slid her eyes up the shackled man in front of her. She did not say anything, she just watched him with a cold, harsh look . She waited for him to talk again. This was almost too easy.

Again, Hammer knew what she was doing but he could not help himself, "Did Anthony send you?" He demanded.

Still, she did not say anything.

Justin felt his fear and anger grow exponentially the longer she stared at him but did not speak. Snapping again, "Why are you not saying anything?"

She blinked a few times before she looked back down at the paperwork.

As she looked away, it angered him more, "What do you want me to tell you?"

Natasha looked back up, fixing him with an unwavering gaze that made her look almost bored. He was going to give her what she wanted.

His mind told him it was a bad idea but he could not stop himself from practically yelling, "You want me to say that I was behind kidnapping Spider-Man? That I was planning on studying him so we could replicate some of his abilities? That I was hoping the Avengers would never find out?"

Natasha still just stared.

"Just tell me what you want to know!" He pulled hard on the chains around his wrists as he lurched forward on the chair. He felt the pain bite into his flesh but the anxiety simmering under just under his skin was enough to make him ignore it.

"Tell me! Tell me what you want!" He barked, his eyes manic as he snapped at her.

Finally, Natasha decided he had enough. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and she stared at him unblinkingly, "Everything."

Almost immediately, he started to talk. Most of it was information she already knew, information that they already had recorded but it was nice to have it corroborated. Just another nail. Then he started to get a bit more interesting.

There was a pause in the conversation and Natasha tried to redirect it to something more informative than what he had been giving her. Her voice was even when she asked, "Where did you get your information?"

Hammer's mind started to scream at him, telling him not to say anything but for the split second it took for him to think of that, his mouth was already moving, "Ross. He wanted a way to recreate a multitude of powers. Apparently, they want to circumvent the Avengers. The plan was to create a working proto-type of at least one serum in the next two years." He looked up at her, "We assumed we needed whoever would be the least missed. Since Spider-Man was in school and he only had one living relative, we concluded he would be the easiest one to taking, giving us enough time to study the first subject as thoroughly as possible. Plus, Ross said he wanted a strength and healing serum, Spider-Man is the only one of you with those abilities. And Ross promised he would ensure any patent for the next thirty years and so his abilities were the best ones to start with. We figured the more traction we could get for figuring out his capabilities, the more protection we would have from..." he held his chained hands up in front of him, gesturing toward her, "you. Plus, the plan was to figure out a sedative that could knock out someone with his power so that we could take on the Winter Soldier and Captain America next. Our people assumed that if we could figure out something that could stop Spider-Man it would stop the other two."

When Natasha heard the comment about Peter being the least missed she could practically hear Tony grinding his teeth on the other side of the room, she was actually pretty impressed that he did not immediately barge in at that just to prove Hammer wrong. Then he blatantly laid out the broad strokes of a plan to take two other Avengers, like it would be a simple undertaking. For some reason, that made her angry and she had to press back the burn of fury. As she took a few deep breaths and calmed herself down, she processed what he was saying. As she thought about it though, there were a few things that did not make sense to her, "Hammer, don't screw with me. What you're saying doesn't make sense. What were you planning on doing after you were done with him?"

At that Hammer had the decency to look ashamed, "We weren't planning on letting him go if that's what your asking…" he trailed off as he said it when he saw the furious scowl on Natasha's face.

But the assassin finished the thought, "You were going to kill him?"

"Yes." Hammer responded, his voice quiet.

Natasha barely managed to control her anger, "Why?"

Hammer shrugged, "Isn't that the natural end to any type of biological experiment? It's necessary to understand how the body functions after death."

For the first time since she had been made into what she was, Natasha felt sick and she barely managed to squeak out the next question, "You were going to dissect him, weren't you?"

For once, Hammer did not talk, just nodded his head a few times, an admission of guilt and a heavy conscience, but no apology.

It took a moment for Natasha to recover from that answer, she had heard some sickening things but what he said was beyond what she had imagined. So in a rare lapse, she paused, unsure of what she was going to say and trying desperately to control the mind-numbing fury building like a pressure at the base of her brain. Finally, she convinced herself that she was in control and that Peter was safe with them. Taking a deep breath, she continued, allowing some of the anger and sarcasm to seep into her voice, "So what was your plan when we started realizing our people were missing?"

Hammer was beyond lying and he shrugged a bit, "We were going to study them for as long as we could before we had to move on and use what we were able to find out to recreate as much as we could."

She still could not understand what gave him the confidence to assume they would not find him and kill him, "You really don't think we would have found out that you were involved?"

Hammer snapped his mouth shut, earning a feral grin and snarl from Natasha, before he quickly complied, "We had a guarantee we would be absolved of any repercussions and we were assured protection from you."

That caught her off guard as well, "You have a deal in place, with who?"

"Ross," he paused as he quickly weighed his options and decide on how cheaply to give up the information, "and a few others." Hammer finished lamely, still a bit too afraid of his other business partners to betray them.

"Who? Everything, remember." Natasha growled.

Hammer, for the first time since he had started talking stopped, ignored Natasha's threatening posture. She slid forward in the chair and looked at him, snarling. Then on a dime she flipped and instead turned to address the room, "FRIDAY…"

The door opened and as Hammer snapped his attention to the threshold, he recoiled, losing some of the defiance in his posture when Tony stepped into the room. Natasha took the fear in stride and leaned into his ear, whispering, "Go ahead, try to avoid telling him. Don't forget, you took his son and he heard everything you just told me." Natasha saw his eyes widen but he kept his mouth clamped shut.

Tony took the opportunity to break the silence of the room. As soon as he stepped through the door he locked eyes on the one person he wanted to kill more than anyone, "Hammer." He said coolly. Tony kept his face impassive but he could not help the swell of satisfaction in his chest as he watched the man flinch.

Justin knew he had to say something, try to take back some of the control, but his voice broke on even one word, "Anthony." Still, he tried to cover it with a confident expression.

Tony could not help but smirk as he heard the terror in the man's voice, "I'm guessing you know why I'm here?" He paused dramatically as he stepped threateningly toward the desk, Natasha had stood giving him room to move into Hammer's space, "I'm here because you're not being honest with her and you need a little more convincing. I can guarantee you that anything she can think to do to you is far kinder than the things I have been sitting on." He awkwardly knelt down in front of Hammer, wincing slightly as the residual pain from his battle with Thanos tore through him. But he did not let that hamper his intimidation, "Are you going to answer her questions or will I need to show you some of the things I came up with while I was waiting for my son to wake up?" He snarled, pressing farther into Hammer's space before laying his suit gauntlet on the man's arm. When Hammer did not respond, Tony started to squeeze. He watched with dispassionate fury as Hammer's face morphed under the increasing pressure, eventually the man yelped in pain but that just urged Tony forward. Squeezing incrementally harder, Tony felt bone give under his hand, finally smiling wickedly as he continued to crush the man's arm. Even when Hammer's bone curdling scream cut through the oppressive silence, Tony held on for a few moments longer.

Natasha flinched as Hammer screamed, she had an idea of what Stark was planning to do if the man did not cooperate with her but the un-ceremonial way he crouched down and broke one of the bones in Hammer's arm was…unexpected. Then she noticed that his own cast was covered by a nano skin, probably trying to keep Hammer from noticing his own weakness.

Justin felt the pain building in his arm as Tony's grip tightened. He tried to stay quiet for a while but then the agony built as Tony continued to crush his arm and he unconsciously yelped. But he saw a wicked gleam in Tony's eyes as he pleaded with him, "Anthony, stop. Please stop, that hurts." But he quickly realized the futility as the pressure continued to increase until he felt a bone give in his forearm and he could not help but scream. Still the pain did not stop, the metallic hand continued to tighten as the bone shifted under the skin and Justin felt a hysterical scream torn from his throat as he tried to pull away from the pressure and the crazed man. Then just as suddenly, Tony released his hold.

Job done, Tony left his hand on the, now broken, forearm and leaned forward, snarling, "Are you going to answer her questions now?"

Justin could not help but sharply nod his head, snapping it up and down as tears slipped out of his eyes and he took a choking breath, "Ye – yes," he stammered.

"Good, then speak," Tony ordered, standing up and taking a halting step back out of the way so Hammer could focus on Natasha again.

The woman easily slid back into her role, any surprise that had briefly flashed across her face was gone, "I believe I asked who else, beside Ross you were working with. I told you I wanted everything." She smirked as she said it.

Hammer's voice broke but he answered immediately, "Ross, Ryker, and a few of the other higher-ups in the Command structure."

Natasha looked over at Tony, allowing some of her frustration to peak through, "How did this man ever build a company? I thought he was at least of average intelligence."

Tony shrugged but had not stopped staring at Hammer, a hungry look on his face. Natasha used that palpable anger and rounded again on their prisoner, "I told you I wanted everything, that is not everything."

Justin swallowed hard and stared between the two incredibly intimidating individuals. Realizing that he did not much of a choice, it was obvious the moment the last of his defiance broke, "Fletcher and Slade, a few of their highly ranked aids," he recoiled when she glared at him again, "I swear, I don't know their names."

"I'm guessing you have ways to corroborate this?" Natasha asked, slowly.

He just nodded, knowing that events were about to happen to hell a lot quicker than anyone had expected.

"Good, then you'll be able to help us bury them." She turned to face the seething man behind her, "I'm good, Stark." She said dismissively as she turned again back to Hammer, a wicked gleam in her eyes, "I think he'll be much more cooperative now."

They had gotten the information and Tony knew he should have felt relieved but he could not stop his hands from shaking and his breath from hitching almost imperceptibly. He meant to listen to her, he meant to leave but instead he ignored her. Tony could feel his hands shaking within the gauntlets and then his humanity that betrayed him. Without knowing why, Tony blurted out something that did not make sense to him, "What happened to you, Justin?" Tony could not help the empathetic disappointment in his tone, "We were rivals but never would I have thought you would have stooped to this level. Why did you do this?"

The odd juxtaposition of violence and empathy was enough to catch Justin off guard and he could not help but continue to answer honestly, and with anger, "What happened to me, Anthony? Is that what you want to know?" He paused as he waited for the man to nod, when he did, Hammer continued with incredible resentment clear in his tone, "What happened to me is you." The man snapped, "You ruined my reputation, ruined my company, and sent me to jail. But that was not the worst of what you did to me," he paused, a crazed look reappearing on his face as he spat, "Oh no, that was the way you destroyed how my daughter looks at me. She hates me and that is your fault. She brought me back into the company because she felt it was her duty, not because of any relationship we have. So what else did you expect me to do? Ross offered me a contract, a chance to get my life back and I took it. You would have done the same."

Tony was already shaking his head, "No I wouldn't have, Hammer. I would've never experimented on a person to get a contract, it's not worth it."

But Justin was not buying it, sneering anger in his tone caused Natasha to take a step forward, defensively. Hammer did not seem to notice it though, "Bullshit, Stark. You would have done it in a heartbeat."

Now Tony's anger worked its way back to the surface, and he could feel a tightness starting in his chest as he continued, "No I wouldn't." He responded adamantly, "that's where we're different. I would rather live in squalor then ever stoop to that level."

"You're only saying that because you think of him like a son." Hammer snapped sardonically, "You're lying to yourself if you think you would have reacted like this if it had been anyone else."

For once, Tony felt the shake still even if the pain in his chest did not lessen, "Again, you're wrong." Tony looked Hammer in the eye, "I'm trying really hard not to kill you because he's my son but I don't have to think of him like that to know that I would never have done that to anyone." Tony paused for a moment before he continued, honestly, "Especially not to him."

Hammer just scoffed but did not press the issue any farther, instead deriding the pair in the room with him, "If you're done breaking my bones and intimidating me, do you think you could send someone in to deal with my arm?" He sneered at Tony, and then pressed just a little farther, "If not, I guess you can continue telling me about how you would never injure anyone to get what you want. Your choice." Knife sufficiently twisted, Hammer slumped back into the chair, pulling his broken arm with him and pressing it carefully against his chest.

Natasha saw the affect on Stark, quickly jumping in, she pressed the now dazed man toward the door, hissing at him, "Leave now, Stark."

Tony let himself be pressed toward the door and he pressed down on the handle of his own accord as Natasha pushed him into the hallway before snapping the door shut behind him.

* * *

As soon as he was out of the room, Tony collapsed against the wall just outside. He quickly brought his shaking hands up to cover his face as he slid down, awkwardly falling with his bad leg out in front of him. He crumpled his head into his knee and felt the familiar pangs of a panic attack settling in his mind. In the buried recesses, Tony had known that Hammer had every intention of killing Peter but he had not imagined the brutality of what he had planned to do. And he had not planned on using that same brutality in turn.

Suddenly, Tony was hit with the overwhelming need to move. To run. To see his son. He awkwardly jumped up and took off down the hallway, his steps hitching only slightly as the brace moved along with him. He did not really remember reaching the door but he recognized when he was there because he instinctually slammed the handle down.

Immediately, the eyes of the four occupants of the room snapped to the door and recoiled as one when they saw Tony standing in the doorframe, chest heaving and wild eyes darting over to Peter. As soon as he saw him, Tony made a beeline for the bed. He gathered Peter up into his arms as quickly as he could, awkwardly grabbing at him before he was even sitting on the bed. Only then did he let the tears start to fall.

Peter saw the look on his dad's face as soon as the door snapped off the back wall and instantly felt fear coil in his stomach, the acidic feeling crawling up the back of his throat. Something spooked Tony and he had no idea what it was. It freaked him out even more when almost in a flash, his dad crossed the room and demandingly wrapped him up in a crushing hug. Peter tried to sit up quickly enough so that it was not completely awkward but he did not quite make it. Instead his dad picked him up off his mound of pillows and quickly engulfed him in a desperate hug. Then Peter feel Tony bury his head in his neck and start to cry. Peter looked over Tony's shoulder at his Aunt and Pepper but both had a an equally mixed look of confusion and horror on their faces. When they did not have an answer for him, Peter wrapped his arms a bit tighter around his dad and slowly started to rub circles across the man's back.

Peter's gentle ministrations finally pulled him out of it somewhat. The focus they created allowed him to sob that he was sorry, that he should have been faster, should have been better. But along with the confessions, Tony could feel his heart constricting and his breath become harder to pull in the more he talked and the more he cried, still he continued. He had nearly killed his oldest son. All of this was his fault.

Peter could hear his dad's uneven heartbeat and labored breathes worsen the longer he held him. Not only that but Peter could feel his dad's arms increasingly tighten around him. It was not enough to hurt but the lack of control was terrifying to Peter nonetheless, "Dad," he whispered quietly, "dad, you have to calm down, okay? I think this is a panic attack so that means you need to relax because I don't want anything to happen to you. I can't let anything happen to you." Peter spoke slowly and continued to rub his hand over the older man's back. "I don't know what's happening but you didn't do anything wrong. You saved me remember? You helped me."

Tony could hear the quiet voice in his ear but it was difficult to comprehend the words. Even so, the sound of his voice was enough to start to break through the panic. The careful patterns the younger man was rubbing on his back were helping too. Slowly. Slowly, Tony was able to refocus and to start to get control of his breathing.

Peter could feel something working so he continued to do both things, "Dad, you have to take some deep breaths because you're scaring me. I know you don't mean to but you are. I'm right here, I'm safe and you made sure that happened. Please come back." Peter begged, "Please come back, dad." Peter could feel his own tears creeping up as he tried desperately to calm the panic attack.

For whatever reason, Peter's pleas did it. He took a few deep, stuttered breaths as he slowed down, as he figured out where he was again. Finally, he lifted his head off his son's shoulder and pulled back to look at him.

They stared at each other for a long moment before Peter spoke, fear clear in his tone, "Dad?" He asked quietly, studying the man in front of him before asking, "Are you back?"

Tony could not help but scoff at that and he tugged his son closer again, "I'm back, Pete. I'm so sorry, I'm back." He mumbled.

"What happened?" Peter asked.

Tony stiffened at the question, everything coming back up to the forefront of his mind but he squashed it down, promising, "I'll tell you later, kid, I can't talk about it right now. I'm sorry."

Peter immediately felt guilty for asking, "Yah, of course." He answered quickly, instead just wrapping his dad up tighter. The two held each other as they both calmed down and only then did Tony slide away from where he was awkwardly sitting in front of Peter, instead slipping to his side, throwing his arm over his shoulder, and pulling the kid in close and allowing him to face the others in the room. Seeing the concerned looks on the women in front of him, he immediately felt guilty but he knew he could not explain at the moment. So instead, he did the only thing he could do, squeaking out, "I'm sorry." He stopped as he tried to figure out if there was anything he could say but nothing was coming to mind so he shrugged and repeated the sentiment, "I'm so sorry for that."

* * *

Pepper, Morgan, and May left a few hours after that to grab something for a late lunch, leaving Peter and Tony alone.

Tony realized he should try to address what happened, so he swallowed hard and asked, "Do you want to know what happened, Pete?"

Peter could hear the trepidation in his dad's voice so he stomped out his own innate curiosity and responded, "Only if you want to tell me. I can wait."

"I don't want to tell you the whole thing but I talked to Hammer," the anger was clear in his tone again, "I talked to him and he told me what he was going to do and it just – it made me realize how close it was…how close I was…" Tony let the implication hang in the air because he could not bring himself to say it. "I'm sorry for the way I came in Pete, I just – I needed to see you, I needed to make sure you were okay."

"It's okay." The younger man whispered.

* * *

They did not talk about it for the rest of the afternoon, instead choosing to focus on the fact that both were still alive and breathing. May and Pepper came back and instead the small family distracted each other. It got easier when Steve, Rhodey, Natasha, Clint, and Bucky came down. Tony had not left Peter's side but it was nice to have others in the room to divert the weight of Tony's earlier appearance. It gave them the chance to interact again without the allegations from earlier hanging over them. Eventually, the doctor came in to take off Peter's cast and ensure the younger man was ready to go back to his own room. He was cleared quickly and the small, assorted group of Avengers helped escort him back to his room. As Peter quickly settled in, Natasha pulled Tony away from the group, "We need to figure out what we're going to do with Hammer." She hissed, trying to keep her voice from carrying across the room.

"Nat, I know you're right but unless you think he has more information to give us, I think he can just sit tight for a few more days." He looked her in the eyes as he asked the next question, "Do you think he has something more to tell us?"

The assassin stayed silent for a minute as she thoroughly contemplated the question. Finally, she responded, "No. I think he told us everything."

"Good. Then he can sit and stew for a few more days while I make sure my son is alright."

Natasha nodded slowly as she thought about what he said, "I'll take care of him."

"Thank you, Natasha." Tony said appreciatively before he turned back toward the rest of the people in the room and again settled next to Peter on the bed. The kid leaned into his shoulder as the conversation flowed around him, even if he did not participate as often as he normally would have. The rest of the night went quickly as Morgan started to nod off and Pepper excused herself to take him to bed, saying goodnight to the gathered Avengers. Peter did not last much longer than his brother. His healing might have kicked back in but he still needed the energy for it. As the youngest Avenger started to nod off, the others moved out of the room as well, leaving Tony and Peter alone.

"Kid, do you want to stay on your own tonight?" Tony asked carefully, aware that younger man was already mostly asleep against his shoulder.

"No." Peter murmured.

"Done." Tony whispered in an equal tone. In a practiced motion, Tony settled them both back into the pillows and laid his hand back in Peter's hair, whispering, "I'm sorry I scared you earlier."

"It's alright, dad." The kid mumbled as he quickly started to fall back to sleep.

* * *

 **I hope that was alright! That was my first time writing any kind of questioning sequence like that and I really hope it was believable.**

 **Please feel free to let me know what you think. I know I said two more chapters like two chapters ago but I'm thinking maybe two to three more after this one. Thank you guys so much for all your support!**

 **I hope you have a wonderful day/night and stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey my lovely readers! I'm sorry for the long gap between chapters but life demanded my undivided attention and I've just now been able to get back into the story.**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter and that it was worth the wait!**

* * *

Tony managed to sleep for a few hours before his racing mind forced him awake, reminding him that he had data to sort through before that night. He slowly slipped out from under his son's lithe frame and carefully repositioned him back on the mattress before tucking him in. Tony could not help but put a hand through his hair, a soft smile tugging at his lips, before he quietly backed out of the room.

The Compound seemed colder this early in the morning, when the lights were dimmed and the normal sound of intermittent talking was lacking, it made the large, Avengers accommodating living room larger somehow. It was a time Tony used to appreciate but now his mind was focused on a specific, altogether more violent, goal, which left no space for appreciation of isolation and silence. He strode to the oversized couch and got to work, pulling up every document and scrap of data Natasha had been able to pull off Hammer's system. The sheer amount caught him off guard, he had not been able to look at it with any degree of focus while Peter had been in the medical wing but he needed to take the time now, especially knowing that there was much more behind the initial attack. He could not afford to take the next step blind, the whole situation was becoming increasingly delicate and he needed to know as much as he could. He pulled one of his displays into his lap and deliberately started pulling apart important pieces of information, tracing connections and snippets of networks. As he worked, the digital connections started to grow and expand out from the couch. It was something that the rest of the Avengers had been working on but Tony needed to see it for himself. He was engrossed in his tasks, focusing the full might of his significant intellect on creating something they could use and hoping he found something they had not.

The broad strokes of the plan were to hit the second facility that night. Natasha had pointed out there was a chance they had already cleaned it out but the hope was that they did not have another place set up yet so the information they needed would be there. Tony had to hope even if they had cleaned it out, this raid would yield at least a bit more information.

* * *

Peter stretched as deeply as he could when he woke up in his comfortable bed for the first time since he had come home for summer break. He felt the slight pull of his still tender ribs and he could feel the almost healed bumps and bruises still littering his body, he knew that the damage to his face was nearly gone, the bruises long yellowed even if the pain still lingered. Without realizing it, he instinctually rolled to the side, expecting to see his dad beside him, but he was not there and Peter could not help the slight pang of worry that grew in his chest. Then he reminded himself that he was safe in the Compound. "FRIDAY?" Peter asked, waiting for the Irish voice to acknowledge him, "where's my dad?"

"He is currently in the main living area. Would you like me to get him for you?" The chipper voice responded.

"No thanks, I'll go out there." Peter responded, sliding out of bed and pulling on one of his warn SI sweaters before he slipped barefooted into the hallway. It did not take him long to get to the living room and when he did, he saw Tony sitting on the couch, StarkPad on his lap and a floating display of dates, names, and locations in front of him. The older man did not seem to notice his approach so he got a little closer before he said something, not wanting to scare him. When he got just outside of the ring of couches, Peter leaned forward and quietly demanded Tony's attention, "Dad?" He could not help but wince when he saw the older man jump slightly before he looked over.

"Hey Pete," Tony greeted, sharp, tired eyes watching Peter walk carefully toward him.

Peter sat down on the edge of the couch, eyes drawn to studying the connections Tony had drawn across the display for a few moments before he turned his attention to the man beside him. As soon as he turned, he could see Tony watching him so, waiting patiently, Peter let his dad scrutinize his posture and his face for any signs of fatigue or pain.

After he was satisfied that Peter was not suddenly going to fall over, Tony refocused the conversation, "What's up Pete?" He asked as he set down the pad and dismissed the display so he could give his full focus to the kid in front of him.

Peter fixed him with a look of determination that was belied by his vague explanation, "I want to help."

"Help with what?" Tony asked, knowing full well what the younger man meant but was still unable to rein in his immediate protective instinct. It was yelling at him to keep his kid from even leaving the Compound let alone dealing with the people who hurt him but he did not want to tell Peter that, could not tell him that.

But if Peter recognized him sidestepping the question, he did not show it, instead choosing to answer. His voice was tight as he attempted to explain, "Anything. Something. Please." The last word escaped in more of a breathy whine and he anxiously folded his arms over his chest as he tried to convince his dad almost as much as himself, "I need to help you deal with this. The casts are off and my ribs are healed and now I need to help you do…something." He held out his hand out lamely as he indicated where the display had been.

"Peter…" Tony started, completely content to tell him they did not need any help but the underlying determination that was always there was plainly written across his kid's features. Peter had dropped his hands into his lap as he worried his fingers but his back was straight and there was steel in his eyes. And Tony realized he understood. Sighing heavily, he relented and waved his hand toward Peter, "Yah, okay." Peter's eyes slid away from his and a slow escape of breath took the tension out of his shoulders when he realized he was going to be able to face this. Then he looked up like he was going to say something but Tony jumped in first, adding some stipulations, "But I'm going to tell you right now, if I feel like you are in any danger, you're done. I'm not letting them get close to you again," Tony could not help the fierceness in his tone. "You can help but I need you," Tony looked Peter in the eyes, "to understand that I will be overprotective." He laid his hand on his son's arm, holding his silent attention, "This is bigger than Hammer and it is too big for any one of us to risk fighting alone. That means that you stick with me no matter what we do."

"Okay," Peter answered stiltedly. He understood what his dad was saying even if he did not necessarily like it. Then something else occurred to him, "But you can't risk yourself for me either, dad. You have to promise me you won't."

Tony could not help but feel like he had been caught even if he only unconsciously made that decision what felt like a lifetime ago, "I promise, Pete."

Peter regarded him carefully for a second, before he responded, "Good." Then he turned quickly on the couch, plopping down next to his dad and snatching the StarkPad out of his hands. Tapping on the screen a few times, he pulled up what his dad had been working on and threw it back into the space in front of them. As his own quick eyes darted across the connections, Peter murmured, "I guess I need caught up then."

"Pete…" Tony started again, well aware that he was repeating himself, "I don't know if you want to see…"

Peter turned toward him, unintentionally but effectively cutting him off, "Dad, please don't. I'm not fourteen anymore. I'm old enough to deal with this, I need to deal with this." Then he gave Tony a small smile, "You can't protect me from everything, as hard as you try."

Tony regarded him carefully for a moment, before sighing and nicking the StarkPad from Peter's hands. He tapped a few more times and retracted some of the extraneous lines and connections, before starting at the beginning and completely filling Peter in. As the morning flew by, the two worked in a practiced tandem they had figured out in the lab a long time ago.

* * *

It was some hours later that the rest of the Avengers joined them. The group crowded in close on the couches and began to plan for the assault that night. They ultimately decided on stealth because as Natasha brought up, if they were not quick, there was a good chance Hammer's people would be able to destroy everything before they could get what they needed. The issue was the location of the shielded rooms in the facility. There were four that made it impossible to get a read on what they were. That element of uncertainty increased the danger of the operation significantly and, as usual, it resulted in a spirited argument between the gathered Avengers.

As the discussion started, Peter could not help but feel relieved when the dynamic between him and the rest of the team did not change. No one questioned his presence or his ideas, instead they took it in stride and considered his input. Sure they crowded a little closer and he caught many of them studying him with a sideways glance when they thought he was not looking, but no one tried to ask him to leave, no one tried to convince him not to help or to stay back. It made it easier for him to fall into the pattern he had before. It made it easier for him to take a deep breath. And it made it easier for him to face what happened to him. He listened as they bickered and added points where he could. He was not quite as well versed as they were but he had picked up on some tactics, so he was able to contribute at least something.

Eventually, Steve ended the conversation, his booming voice easily cutting through the conversation as he fell back into his age old title of Captain, "So, what's our plan of attack?" The group understood the tone and instead of everyone talking over each other again, they added pieces slowly as the plan started to form.

Clint spoke up first looking directly at Peter, "Are you coming with us?"

Peter had to physically keep himself from looking at his dad because he knew from the hand suddenly clamped around his forearm that if he did, he would not be able to answer. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on Hawkeye, "Yes," he answered, surprising himself with the resolve in his tone.

Clint gave a sharp nod, holding Peter's eyes for a moment longer before he turned back to the group, "Right. Here's what I'm seeing, we need teams, at least four because we need to hit each of the shielded rooms at the same time." When the rest of the group did not question his ideas, he started again, "The issue is the space between them. Backup is going to be difficult."

Natasha picked up the conversation there, "If we keep a group back, maybe Vision and Sam since they're the most mobile, it will give us a chance for backup if anything happens."

The group gave a collective nod as Rhodey chimed in, "What are the teams then? We need at least someone who is skilled with tech in each."

Natasha took on that one, "Me, Steve, and Bucky, Wanda and Bruce, Tony and Peter, Clint and Rhodey. That should be enough."

"That stretches us thin," Steve cautioned, "but it's a start." He raised his voice as he addressed the full group, "Is there anything we can do to narrow down the targets?"

Tony glanced over at Peter, drawing the quiet scrutiny of the rest of the room, as he nudged his head in the direction of the table and encouraged him to fill everyone else in.

Peter saw the cue and took a deep breath before he addressed the group, "We were looking over the data Ms. Romanov recovered earlier and I noticed that three of the rooms pull significantly more power than the fourth. My dad and I were trying to figure out if that meant the room had no significant storage or if it was actually the location we were looking for and was somehow run off its own generator or something along those lines. We weren't totally sure, so we compared it to the readings from the…umm," Peter felt his throat tighten slightly at the description he almost gave, but he cleared his throat and continued, "from…the other facility and these three," he gestured to the locations on the map, "are pulling the most power, similar to the SCIF room where you found the other information."

"So what are you saying Peter?" Steve prompted, his voice carrying over the group but drawing no head turns.

Peter sat up a bit straighter at the attention before answering, "That we can concentrate our efforts on those three rooms because the fourth won't have anything we can use in it."

A quiet fell over the group before Steve looked over at Tony, "Is he right?"

"Yah, he's right." Tony's voice did not waiver as he backed up his son's conclusions, "We missed it before because we were focused on the locations, the data we needed, not identification. Three groups will do it, we can deal with the last room after we get what we need."

Steve looked at the collective group for a moment before giving the order, "Alright, we go tonight."

Then FRIDAY's voice broke over the intercom, "Boss, Secretary Ross is requesting your immediate presence in the hologram room."

Tony glanced across the collective group, his mouth going dry as he snapped at FRIDAY, "I told you that I didn't want you to take any of his calls."

But the soft tone ignored his obvious anger, "Boss, he's attempting his override, would you like me to deny it?"

"No," Tony growled, "Don't do that because then he'll know I can. I'll take the call. Tell him I'll be there soon." He groaned as he pressed himself back from the table. Standing quickly, he laid a hand on Peter's shoulder before addressing the rest of the Avengers, "Don't come in, he can't know how many of us are here, I'll find out what he knows." He gave his son's shoulder a squeeze and left the room, strolling much slower than he should have but he needed a minute to bottle up his anger.

* * *

As he slid into the room, the blue holographic image of Ross was standing with his back to the door but Tony knew he was aware of his presence because the disgusting man twisted the fingers held behind his back as he snapped, "Stark, you cannot kidnap civilians, it's against the law." His voice was hard and commanding, meant to intimidate.

But Tony was not about to be daunted, "Hammer is far from a civilian," he scoffed, turning on the offensive. "You've been feeding him classified jobs and information since I stopped producing weapons for you and now that I stopped him from doing illegal experiments, you're going to pretend that I am the one breaking the law."

The Secretary turned to face him, pulling himself up to his full height and staring down at Tony. His voice was obstinate, "He was not doing illegal experiments, he was gathering data from a willing participant."

That description pissed Tony off, he had seen the tapes, had seen the aftermath, "Watch yourself Ross," Tony growled, allowing his anger to show through. "I know you had something to do with this and I swear to god I will find out what it is. Don't forget, I went to bat for you, for your accords. I tore my team apart to get some of them under your thumb. I've always known you were a jackass but I assumed there was some twisted level of morality under there somewhere."

"You won't find anything because there is nothing to find," Ross shot back, "What Hammer was doing but it was not nearly as sinister as what you are making it out to be. And don't even try to play the righteous, sacrificial card, you lost that ability a long time ago. You think you went to bat for me, Stark? You released those Avengers, you gave them the ability to hide." Then he switched topics again, pointing a finger accusingly in Tony's direction, "That _man_ , out of a sense of patriotic and heroic duty, submitted himself to those tests to help Hammer Industries come up with a serum that could save thousands, even millions if they were able to figure out how to synthesize his abilities. Imagine what would happen if there was a serum that could speed up a person's natural healing."

Tony gave a sarcastic laugh, "Your level of bullshit is incredible Ross. No," Tony paused dramatically, "that's not true, what's actually incredible is that I can understand you given the shit you're currently spewing." Tony snarled as he talked, a threat inherent in his posture.

Still Ross, mocked him, "What are you going to do Stark? I'm a sitting Secretary, are you suddenly going to swoop in and take me out of my seat because someone did something you don't like and you've deluded yourself into blaming me for it?" He threw his hand up and turned from the camera, dismissing Tony's claims.

But that just pissed Tony off and he let the pure fury he was feeling continue to color his tone, "Something I don't like," Tony started incredulously, "He was torturing my son, Ross. You expected me to just sit…"

Ross cut him off, spinning back toward the camera, "Don't be absurd. You have one son, Stark, one. Parker is just some kid you picked up off the street and gave a suit, no one would take your sanctimonious claim of parental duty seriously. Hammer did not take your son, he was performing sanctioned trials on a willing participant."

Tony reined in his anger, Ross did not know what they had, "That's the story you're sticking to then?" Tony shot back.

"That's the official story and that's what happened." Retorted the steady voice of a man who had his answers.

Lowering his voice, Tony pressed his apparent weakness, and threatened him, as though he was backed into a corner, "I don't care what your official story says, if anyone comes near _my son_ again, I will deliver them to your office in small pieces and if I have to, I'll come for you for protecting them." Tony was well aware he was threatening a member of the government and that there were probably others in the room, just off camera but for once, he could not care.

Ross turned his head down, eyes flashing in anger as he replied, "You do that Stark, I would love to throw you behind bars. Justin Hammer did nothing illegal and you will return him to me intact, do you understand me?" The secretary leaned forward, a hungry gaze on his face, "And if you ever threaten me again, I promise you, I will not simply force you to talk to me, I will bring the full might of the U.S. government down on your head. I don't care who is there. I will storm that compound and I will ensure that the rogue band you have put together will finally be put under necessary control."

Tony matched Ross's stance, leaning forward into the camera, "Try it, Ross. I'm keeping your little pet until he gives me something useful. I'll give him back when I'm done but while I can promise you that he'll be alive, he'll definitely be a little worse for wear. I'll break him Ross and when I do, I'll make sure that he tells me everything I need so I can bury you. Imagine what will happen when the voters find out that the Secretary of State ordered illegal tests on an Avenger." Tony met the hard look in Ross's eyes with a smirk, "What nothing to say Ross? Did I finally touch a nerve?"

Ross's eyes flicked over Tony's shoulder in annoyance and anger but he let very little show on his face as he answered, "You won't find anything Stark and he can't tell you anything that I haven't already. I want…"

Tony interrupted him, snarling, "No, you do not get to tell me what you want. I want my son's leg to be in one piece, I want him to be back at school…"

Ross opened his mouth to talk again but Tony's anger stopped him as he raised his voice above whatever Ross was going to say, "I want to stop explaining to my younger son why his brother can't play with him. So yah I'm going to talk to Hammer and I might hurt him a bit but let's be honest, he deserves far more than what I will do to him." Tony gave him a sick smile before dismissively adding, "It's been good talking to you, Ross. Feel free to never call me again."

"I'm not done Stark." Ross snapped, volume just below a yell.

But Tony was already walking up the steps, "FRIDAY, end call." As the hologram winked out, Tony heard Ross call his name but he refused to turn, the refusal more symbolic than necessary. He stepped out of the room and paused when he felt the familiar sense of panic burn up the back of his throat. Tony unconsciously laid his hand on the wall and he doubled over, sucking in a few deep breaths before he straightened out, squared his shoulders, and headed back down to the living room.

* * *

Peter knew before he even saw his dad that something was wrong, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and the slight tingle at the base of his spine wiped away any illusion that nothing was wrong. He spun in his seat, startling the rest of the gathered Avengers, "Dad?" Peter whispered, a moment before Tony appeared in the doorway. But his appearance confused Peter because he looked fine, his trademark swagger firmly displayed as he walked through the door.

He took up his seat next to his son as he looked over at the younger man, the confusion clear on his face, "What's wrong?"

Peter realized he was staring, "Nothing." He answered quickly before changing the subject, "What did Secretary Ross have to say?" That question pulled the attention of the rest of the Avengers.

"Nothing we didn't know but he does not know what we have. I didn't tell him anything and he seemed to think that the only leverage we have is Hammer. He did threaten to bring the collective might of the U.S. government, whatever the hell that means, down on us if we don't give his weapons designer back. Wonder what he would do if we told him we were going to hit the facility tonight?" Tony quipped as he looked over at Steve, "Just fill me in on what's going on. We're ahead of them for right now, lets just make sure it stays that way. We have to go tonight."

"Alright, Tony, if you're sure." When the Avenger nodded, Steve continued, "We're sticking with teams but they'll be groups of three with Sam and Vision held back for backup…" Steve laid out the rest of the plan before they stepped out to get ready for the night ahead.

* * *

Peter hung close to his dad's side as they left the room, following him over to their suite of rooms and putting some space between them and the others before he laid his hand on Tony's arm, drawing his attention, "Dad, what's wrong?"

Tony froze at the incredibly pertinent question but he still tried to throw it off, unwilling to worry his son, "What'd you mean Pete?"

But Peter being Peter just kept pressing, "You weren't okay when you came back in, what's wrong?" He repeated, that newly found steel back in his tone.

Tony sighed, "When did you become a mind reader?" He quipped.

Peter knew from his dad's tone that he had won, so he answered his question in the only way he could, "Not a mind reader, spider sense remember?"

"That works with feelings too?" Tony was genuinely curious that time, normally the spider sense warned him of danger, this was totally different.

But Peter just shrugged, "Not normally but for some reason I knew something was wrong."

Tony squinted at him slightly before answering his initial question, "It wasn't anything in particular, kid. Some of Ross's threats just hit a bit close to home is all and I needed some more time to handle it."

Peter's eyes widen a bit at the comment, a bit nervous about a conversation with a Secretary that scared his dad, "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright now, Pete, I promise. I just want to make sure that you're safe, so tonight, you stick with me, got it?" Tony was pretty proud of himself for his shift in conversation, he did not want to tell his son about the threats Ross made, he would have to tell Steve but he could not tell Peter right now.

"I know dad, I promise." The annoyance in his tone had no force behind it as he leaned into the arm that Tony threw around his shoulders.

* * *

May rapped a couple of times on the door frame of Peter's room before he called her in. As she stepped into the room, she saw her nephew sitting on the bed, staring at his hands with the nanotech webshooters sitting on the bed next to him. He obviously knew she was there but he did not look up at her. She took that as her cue to sit down on the bed and lay her arm around his shoulders, "How you doing, baby?"

He did not look at her, just continued to stare at his hands.

Instead of pushing him, she sat quietly next to him and rubbed her hand up and down his arm offering whatever comfort she could.

Until finally he squeaked out a question, all the confidence and resolve he had felt before was absent from his tone, "What if I can't do this Aunt May?"

"What are you talking about Peter?" May asked carefully, concern building in the pit of her stomach.

"What if I screw up tonight?" Peter whispered, staring at the wall.

May forced him to turn and look at her, "Baby, I'm not going to lie to you, I came in here to ask you not to go but I don't think that's fair of me to ask because I know it would be selfish and you would seriously consider it because you are so completely unselfish." May took a deep breath before continuing with what she was going to say, "But as much as I want to ask you not to go, I can tell you that if you go, you will not screw up. You will not hurt anyone. You will not ruin anything."

He knew she could see his fear, his uncertainty and so he did not even bother to hide his need for reassurance, "How do you know that?"

She shrugged against his shoulder, "You're you, Peter. You are the most capable person I have ever met and I know that if you go tonight you will make a difference," She squeezed him closer when he looked up at her, "But I also know that no one will think any less of you if you don't go. Not me, not Morgan, not Steve or Natasha or Sam. And definitely not Tony." She leaned away from him with enough space to look him in the eye, "I love you, baby, no matter what but if you go, promise me that you will be careful."

He reached over and hugged his aunt, "I love you too, Aunt May…" He paused there as he contemplated his next answer, "And I promise I'll be careful tonight."

She leaned away from him again and smiled sadly as she looked him over, seeing the soft yellow hues healing around his eyes and nose, knowing how close she had come to losing him. Still, she knew she could not ask him to stop, knew what being Spider-Man meant to him. So she hugged him again. They sat silently until Peter looked at her, "Aunt May, I need to get ready."

"Of course, baby, be careful." She replied quietly, kissing him on the forehead before she stood and stepped out of the room.

Peter watched her leave, the twisting fear in his gut coiled a bit more until he slipped the webshooters onto his wrist, feeling the crawl of the nanobots as his suit came online.

Then Karen's calming voice came over his headset, "Hello, Peter. I'm glad to see you again."

"Hey Karen, I'm - uh - glad to be back." His voice was hesitant even to his own ears and again he questioned whether he would be better staying behind. But then Karen's reassuring voice came back over the coms.

"So what are we doing tonight?"

Peter was a bit caught off guard by that question and he could not help but ask, "You haven't been talking to FRIDAY?"

"I have but I still wanted to ask you." Her cheerful voice made the knot lessen a bit as he started to explain the plan to her, knowing that it was doing significantly more for him. So by the time he was ready to meet the others in the launch bay, he was feeling more like himself.

* * *

As the time ticked closer to takeoff, the Avengers slowly made their way to the hanger, each surveying the others as they arrive, each consciously making sure they were all ready to go, all ready to fight. Once everyone was there, they boarded in silence and they settled in for the relatively short flight.

Tony sat down next to Peter and threw his arm over the kid's shoulder, trying to allay some of the worry building in the back of his mind when he briefly allowed his mind to wander over the fact that he was taking his kid directly into the arms of those who tried to hurt him.

Unaware of the war going on in his dad's mind, Peter relaxed into his dad's shoulder, knowing that no matter what happened, Tony would have his back.

* * *

 **That's all I have for now my lovely readers! I'll be updating again as soon as I can but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **I'm thinking about two more chapters to finish everything up so feel free to let me know what you think.**

 **I hope all of you have a wonderful day/night and stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello everyone! I hope your Saturday is going well and I have another chapter for you. I hope you enjoy it!**

 **I also wanted to say thank you to Peacockgirl. I'm so glad that was how you took the characterization of Peter, I was a little afraid it would feel too forced but at the same time I wanted to show that was just who he was, so I'm glad it worked for you!**

 **Here's the next chapter, enjoy!**

* * *

The cloaked quinjet hovered just above the flat roof on the far end of the facility. Hammer had given them the information necessary to avoid the perimeter alarms, unfortunately that was about as useful as he was able to be, which left the rest up the them. More specifically up to Vision. It was risky but he needed to pass through the first few levels without being seen so he could get FRIDAY access to the systems.

Thankfully, it went more smoothly than it easily could have. Tony and Natasha monitored the alarms, so when Vision reported back successful and nothing was triggered, the entire cabin let out an unconscious sigh of relief. But that breath was immediately held again as they waited for Vision to phase back into the quinjet. It took a few minutes longer than they wanted but eventually he reappeared.

"I believe I was successful." He answered with characteristic confidence.

Tony did not comment and instead asked the all important question, "FRIDAY, do you have access to the systems?"

"Yup." She answered quickly, "Accessing the cameras now." The cabin was silent until the melodic Irish tone spoke again, "I have control of the cameras, boss. Freezing the necessary feeds. Your infiltration should be hidden." FRIDAY responded in her eternally optimistic tone.

"Guess that's our cue." Steve answered, "Everyone knows their role?" He asked, knowing full well that no one was going to forget what they were meant to be doing. When he saw the nods and determined faces, he signaled his own assent, "Let's go. Be quick and stay in contact."

Without a word, each group broke off.

* * *

Steve, Natasha, and Bucky left first, their goal was the furthest away and they wanted to ensure they would be able to make it there without tripping any alarms and so each group could begin looking for information at the same time.

As they waited for the green light from FRIDAY, Tony glanced under his arm at Peter and whispered, "You sure you're ready for this, Pete?"

His son's soft brown eyes met and held his, "No, but I need to do it anyway."

Tony's heart broke a little at the determination in his voice but he still squeezed his shoulder and offered advice instead of telling him to stay back, "Stay close to me."

Peter nodded. Then FRIDAY's voice came over the coms, "Boss, the first team is in place." Peter slowly slid out from under his dad's arm and rolled his shoulders, carefully burying the fear as deeply as he could.

Tony glanced at him once more and then looked over at Rhodey, "Let's get this done." And the three of them glided onto the roof before making their way into the building.

* * *

It took about ten minutes of quick but stealthy movement before they emerged onto their assigned floor and as Rhodey slowly pressed the door open, FRIDAY gave the go ahead to Bruce, Wanda, and Clint.

* * *

The door they were looking for was disarmingly unassuming until Tony got to work on the electronic lock, even with FRIDAY in the system it took him a few precious minutes of exposure to get the lock to finally pop. Rhodey entered first, methodically clearing the corners and ensuring that the two with him would be safe while they were doing their job. Tony followed him with Peter close behind.

As the three stepped into the room, they were caught off guard by its size. Where the location suggested a smaller office sized room, instead they saw a high-roofed drab room with thick metallic walls and a concrete floor. About two-thirds of the way back, almost nestled into the middle of the room was a large metallic wall that contained a panel of four computers. It was an odd set-up but they did not have time to dwell on the decor. Tony immediately turned on the first computer, allowing himself to keep an eye around the corner and forcing Peter to use the one next to him. The one behind cover.

It did not take the two long to get into the system but the level of information they suddenly had access to was overwhelming.

* * *

They searched for the better part of fifteen minutes before Peter offered his assessment, "I don't think there's anything here…" Peter trailed off as he continued to scroll through files and schematics.

"I think you're right. This place is not as heavily guarded as the other facility either. So the question is, what are they doing here that drew so much power?" Tony quietly asked, voice only loud enough for Peter to hear.

"I'm not sure," Peter responded before he looked around the room, "Doesn't this room seem kind of big to just house these computers?"

"Yah it does," Tony responded, "FRIDAY, are you finding anything we're missing?"

"Boss, I think this was for manufacturing of some kind." She paused for a few moments as Tony and Peter continued to scroll, "I think I've found something…" In response to her comment, the ceiling opened and a couple of arms dropped down before Peter's computer screen flashed onto a different program.

Tony leaned over Peter's shoulder as the two studied the new data, each picking out something different about what they were seeing but nothing that shed any light on how it fit into the larger goal, "FRIDAY, start copying as much of this as you can. We can't stay here long enough to figure out what this is."

With FRIDAY's assent, Peter's head suddenly shot up, "Someone is…" But he did not get a chance to finish as the door slammed open, Rhodey yelled a warning, and a small apple-shaped device rolled into the room. Tony and Peter both glanced around the corner as the blinding blaze of a supped up flash-bang grenade heralded the rhythmic sound of gunfire as it slammed into the thick metallic hull of the console.

The three went down instantaneously, allowing the guards to make it into the room. Thankfully for the three, Rhodey recovered first. He tore toward the men as the bullets bounced off the exterior of his worn suit, then one of the men pulled what looked like a sawed off shotgun up to his shoulder and pulled the trigger. A highly concentrated EMP pulse dropped Rhodey like a stone as War Machine winked out, even given the modifications Tony had continued to make to the nanotech since Thanos had proven they were not invincible.

Hearing the heavy clang of metal on the cement floor, Tony shook the last of the blinding light out of his eyes and pressed his hand against his now throbbing head. Snapping his head to the side, Tony immediately looked for Peter. The kid was clutching his head and the eyes on the suit were as close to squeezed shut as they could be. "Peter, kid, you alright?" Tony asked, his voice just a little too high as the fear crept through. He knew it was probably just the light and sound messing with Peter's senses but he had to be sure.

Peter groaned loudly, audibly complaining about the pain the blast and noise had caused before he responded, "Good." He managed to grind out.

"Stay behind the console," Tony ordered before taking off to where War Machine was slowly coming back on line. He came out guns blazing and quickly tore through the men who were left, forcing the ones who survived his assault to back off. Unfortunately, he knew they probably just ducked around the corner until backup could arrive. He needed Rhodey to get up. Tony knelt down next to the slowly twitching hulk that was War Machine. He kept one eye on the door as he tapped on the exterior of the suit, "Rhodey, come on, time to wake up."

Then the annoyed voice made it through the com static, "...can't mo-ve rig...now, Ton-y."

As Tony's attention was mostly on Rhodey, a few of the more brazen men pressed their luck, creeping slowly back around the corner and taking up closer positions before opening fire. The bullets forced Tony into the air as he tried to draw the fire away from Rhodey and Peter's hiding place.

Then their back up arrived. An altogether different sound thunked through the room and a split second later Tony felt pain tear through his foot and his leg as warning lights started going off in his helmet. It took him a moment to comprehend what happened as he collapsed onto one knee. The pain bit twice more into his stomach before he threw a shield up in front of him. He saw the bullets tearing into the nanobots but the shield seemed to stop their momentum enough to keep them from hitting him again. Then the heavy clunk of whatever was firing those bullets stopped and Tony collapsed backward, the shield disappearing as he gave up on consciousness.

* * *

Peter finally managed to shake off the effects of the grenade and his senses slowly came back to him. The sound of bullets bouncing off metal reached his ears and he immediately sprang to his feet only to waver slightly until his equilibrium found its center. Grabbing ahold of the side of the console, he pulled himself around the corner to see if he could do anything to help. As he did, his senses started to tingle but he had a hard time figuring out where it was coming from. He only did a moment before an entirely new, heavy metallic ring sounded through the room. Peter watched as the bullets slammed into Bleeding Edge but this time they did not bounce off. Instead, a few tore through the metal of Tony's boot and leg, causing him to drop awkwardly. Only for him to fall to one knee as two more tore into his stomach. "No!" Peter screamed as his dad managed to get a shield up. He could tell War Machine was still offline because Colonel Rhodes had not made a move to help so instead he took off toward the newest gunman. Firing a web at the muzzle, Peter jumped over the man and snatched the weapon out of his hands. He webbed it to the ceiling before he dropped, landing on the man, almost regretting the pained cry as the newly disarmed gunman crumpled under his weight. He webbed both the man's hands to the ground and left him struggling against the restraints before he quickly webbed up the other four guards.

Everything stopped as silence fell back over the room.

Peter glanced around quickly before he shot over to his dad and a nearly paralyzing fear frozen his feet when he saw the blood pooling on the ground beneath the prone body. "No," Peter whispered through a strangled throat as he collapsed next to his dad and quickly pressed down on one of the wounds. Unconsciously, he realized how stupid it was to press on a metal suit but he could not fathom not trying something. In desperation, he started talking, "Karen, talk to FRIDAY, figure out what's going on."

"Peter," Steve's calm voice broke over the coms, "What happened?"

He wanted to sound sure, he wanted to sound in control but unfortunately, he could not stop his own stuttering, "My da – my dad was shot. I – I don't…I don't know what to do."

"It's alright, Steve." Rhodey jumped in on the conversation, his coms sounding crisper, "I'm here, we'll be alright."

Regardless of the reassurance, Steve still asked, "Sam, Vision, do you have them?"

"Yah we're on the way, get the information." Sam responded, the soft hum of his suit obvious in the background.

Peter heard the conversations but everything was muffled and impossible to understand. Then Karen answered the question he had asked earlier, "Peter," her soft voice demanded his attention, "FRIDAY had trouble with the metal of the bullets, they were vibranium based and the nanobots were unable to stop them before they damaged the integrity of the suit, its taking time to get it functioning again."

"I can't – I can't do this. Karen, what do I do?" Peter could feel the tears building in his eyes as he watched the sluggish blood continue to stain the outside of Tony's suit. Then he felt his surprisingly limp hands pulled away as the nanobots finally started crawling over the bullet holes.

"Peter," Rhodey started slowly, holding the kid's wrists and pulling his blood caked gloves away from the body in front of him, "Peter, you have to let FRIDAY handle it." Only a few heartbeats later, Peter's eyes snapped to his and Rhodey assumed the kid was listening until he wrenched his wrists from the Colonel's hands. His head violently spun toward the door, and hissed, "More people are coming." Without an explanation, he leapt into the rafters. Confused, Rhodey looked toward the door as soon as the kid darted toward it on the ceiling and four more men ran into the room.

Immediately, webs descended and wrenched two of the guards upward only for them to bungee cord back down, their guns slamming against their chests as the momentum of the gun kept going long after their body stopped moving. That spurred Rhodey into action and he took out the last two men as quickly as he could.

Rhodey slammed the door shut again as he turned back and tried to wrap his head around the fact that Peter was already at Tony's side. The kid was leaning over him, with his hand laid on his chest and Rhodey could not help but feel a little relief when he saw Tony's head move a few halted times, maybe the wounds were not as bad as he initially thought.

* * *

Peter knew that Colonel Rhodes would deal with the last two men so before they were even incapacitated, he took off toward his dad. As he dropped down next to him, he started talking, "Dad, dad, if you can hear me, can you say something please?" He knew his voice was a few octaves higher than normal but he was terrified and his own old wounds were starting to pull again.

* * *

Through the fog that was his brain, Tony heard his son talking and he kind of remembered what happened so he answered the only way he could, "'m…here, Pete…" The response was breathy and tired but it was loud enough to be heard. Then Tony heard the _tink_ of metal as his son laid his hand on the chest of Bleeding Edge before the other closed around his clasped fist.

Peter dropped his head to his chest for just a moment, "Thank god." He breathed out.

"Wha' happened?" Tony whispered, his helmet melting back.

Peter did the same. He felt Colonel Rhodes lean over his shoulder but did not take his eyes off his dad as he answered, "They have vibranium bullets, the suit couldn't stop them."

"Oh." Then the pain started to lick at the edges of his mind, whatever trick of the suit or trick of his body that had kept the creeping burn at bay was wearing off and he slowly became aware of the multiple points of fire tearing along his body.

Peter recognized the pain starting to flare across his dad's face which also meant that the medical elements of the nanobots were not working as quickly as they should have been. Then he asked what he knew to be a stupid question, "Are you okay?"

Tony knew Peter needed reassurance and he badly wanted to lie but knew he couldn't, "Nope. I…uh…that hurt."

Peter looked down, the worried frown deepening, but he still did not know what to do to fix it, "What can I do?"

"Help me up, kid." Tony ordered, his tone a bit more clipped than he wanted but he could not help it. Peter complied, even as Rhodey started to protest, until Tony cried out in pain. He panted as Peter carefully laid him back down and leaned over him instead, placing his hand carefully back on his chest.

For whatever reason, that caused something to slip into place. Obviously the normal measures they had taken were not working and Peter felt the overwhelming need to ensure that nothing happened to his dad. It was a determination he felt down to his core and it become more urgent then his fear. Without meaning to Peter ordered, "FRIDAY, what are we looking at?"

The AI's brogue echoed in the room as she temporarily took over for Karen, "Four bullets made it through the armor. One hit his leg, another his foot, and two more pierced his abdomen. Medical assistance is advised."

Peter was trying to understand what FRIDAY had told him but his dad reacted first, "Get the nanobots on it," Tony ordered through clenched teeth.

"They are boss," came the apologetic tone, "but the wounds are dangerous and the nanobots cannot deal with them fast enough."

Peter released a strangled breath but quickly beat it back down as he took in the threat. He thought only for only a moment, remembering what he had told his dad earlier, that he was not a kid anymore. A sense of calm washed over him as he ordered, "FRIDAY, roll back the armor over his wounds."

His son's voice caught him off guard. Tony knew something had shifted because the fear he had heard before was gone and a harder, more pragmatic tone took its place. He felt FRIDAY comply with the order as the nanobots peeled back. Tony could not help but pant, "Pete, wha' you thinkin'?" His voice was weak and he hated it.

Tony's question was repeated by Rhodes but Peter did not answer either and instead focused on what he was trying to do, "Karen, give me the cauterizing webs." As soon as he saw the slowly pulsing blood he nearly lost his nerve but he quickly swallowed it back and carefully fired the webs at each of the wounds. Wincing slightly at the soft gasps that escaped as each web hit, Peter kept moving as he quickly closed up the wounds the best he could.

As soon as the last web was released, Peter grabbed hold of his dad's clenched fist. The suit coiled back around his wrist before FRIDAY ordered Bleeding Edge to do the same. Peter slowly pried Tony's fist open and pressed their hands together. Peter leaned into Tony's eye line before he whispered, "Dad, this is gonna hurt, okay? Just squeeze my hand."

Tony felt his hand manipulated and he wanted to fight it but knew that given his son's strength there was no way he could so instead, he wrapped his fingers tight. Feeling guilty, Tony could not help but dig his fingers painfully into the back of his kid's hand, knowing exactly what was coming. He clamped down on his tongue and nodded sharply.

Peter held Tony's gaze and he could feel the tears burn in his eyes when he ordered, "Karen, activate the webs." On command, the webs flashed red as the heat flared up before the entirety of the web fizzled away, leaving behind clear burns where the sluggish blood had been slowly pooling. But at least it stopped. Peter could feel his own tears as he looked down at the pain on his dad's face, tears leaking out of his tightly closed eyes. "Dad?" Peter questioned, fear back in his tone.

Tony forced his eyes open, and wheezed out, "…here, Pete."

Peter could hear the exhaustion as he leaned farther over the older man, "Can you walk?"

"Yah…just need sum help." Without an order Bleeding Edge crawled back up over the wounds, carefully covering the quick solution Peter had come up with. Tony held his hand up as Peter grasped it and carefully pulled him up from the concrete before he ducked under his dad's arm.

Rhodey stepped up to the pair, "Can you hold him, Peter?"

"Yah, can you cover us?" Peter asked but the question came out less like a question and more like a mutated order. His hand was pressed against Tony's stomach to steady him as he bent slightly at the waist. His ragged breaths rang clearly through Peter's coms.

Peter quietly spoke to Tony, "Dad, we're going to go back to the quinjet. Tell me if you need anything." Then he looked up at Rhodey, "Let's go." He did not even bother asking as he started moving toward the door.

* * *

Steve, Natasha, and Bucky heard the gunfire echo like soft pops in the SKIF room.

"Guess that means they know we're here," Bucky sniped, looking over at Steve as he pulled his gun off his back.

Steve fixed him with a look that hovered between disbelief and exasperation before he called back to Natasha, "How are you doing?"

"I just started, Cap. Even with FRIDAY's help, I'm going to need some more time to break through their defenses, let alone copy everything." Natasha distractedly answered as she picked up the pace. Then Peter's panicked calls came over the coms. Immediately, Steve answered as he heard Bucky curse beside him.

When they got confirmation of assistance, Steve raised his voice high enough for the others to hear, "We need to get moving. If Tony's down, we don't have much time before they figure out we're here too."

"And Peter will not want to wait." Natasha added, eyes glued to the computer in front of her.

Steve nodded and then added, "No, he won't so get it done."

* * *

They ran into Sam and Vision as they made it around the corner.

Sam immediately stepped up to Tony's other side and laid a hand on his back but looked at Peter, "How you doing kid? Need any help."

Peter immediately shook his head, "No, I've got him." His answer uncharacteristically succinct.

Taking the hint, Sam instead moved up in front of the group while Vision quietly moved to the back as they formed up the best they could around the pair and quickly made the journey up to the jet.

* * *

"Nat, we've got incoming." Steve called over his shoulder, "Now's the time to hurry up."

"I'm working on it Steve but they're going to be here before I'm done." The stress was beginning to color her tone as she pushed to get as much as she could.

Steve did not answer and instead glanced over at Bucky before pulling his shield up and readying himself for the coming fray, "Haven't done this in a while." He quipped to his friend.

Bucky smirked at him as he casually pulled back on the hammer, "This won't be nearly as bad as those dog things though." He responded.

"Let's hope." Steve answered portentously.

* * *

It took longer than Peter wanted to make it to the quinjet and he could not help the fear that began to take over his mind as his dad increasingly leaned against him. Still, they made it back with only a little disruption that Vision quickly took care of and Peter carefully rolled his dad down onto one of the medical beds in the back of the quinjet before kneeling down next to him, "Dad, how are you?"

Tony groaned before answering,"…been better."

"Dad, please don't lie to me." Peter begged, letting the fear finally show on his face again, "You get mad at me for that."

"I'm alright Pete, promise." Tony answered, rolling his head to the side to take in his son, "It hurts but I'll be alright. You did good."

Peter rolled back the gauntlets on his suit so he could lay his hand in his dad's hair while he grabbed his good hand with the other. He watched as Tony closed his exhausted eyes and relaxed a bit. Vision, Sam, and Rhodey stood toward the front, their stances tense as they waited for the others to make it back. Unfortunately, they did not need to wait long as Bucky's clipped voice cut through the quiet cabin, "Steve's down."

"Do you need us?" Sam questioned, already powering up the suit and stepping out of the jet.

"Yah, they've got more people on the way." Bucky answered, the sound of gunfire clear in the background.

Sam glanced in the direction of the two, "We need to go. I'm sorry." He frowned as he took in the desperation on Peter's face but they could not wait.

The pair watched the three charge out of the jet before Tony pulled his hand out of his son's and laid it on the side of his face, "Pete, you have to help them." And he kept talking before Peter could argue, "I'm going be alright but they need your help now."

"I can't." His eyes started to well up as he knew what he needed to do but desperately did not want to do it, "I can't leave you. Please don't make me." Peter begged, even though he knew it would not matter.

"Yes, you can, Peter, you have to." Tony answered, eyes soft as he tried to convince his son to protect the rest of the team. "They're going to need help getting Steve back here," Tony knew what he was asking but also knew that he was right. He hated himself for causing the war he could see in Peter's ever expressive face but also saw the moment the steel crept back in.

"I'm only going if you stay on the coms. You have to keep talking to me." Peter gave up on his denials, knowing that he needed to be a hero. He couldn't be Peter Parker right now, he needed to be Spider-Man.

Then another call came over the coms, "Bucky's down, I need back up now." Natasha's voice carried a rare inflection of fear.

Tony smiled softly despite the situation as his helmet slid into place as he complied with his son's order, "I promise, Pete. Go and be careful." FRIDAY projected through the coms.

Peter squeezed his hand once more before he stood, squared his shoulders, and stepped out of the quinjet, taking off in the direction Karen projected on his heads-up display.

* * *

He found them just as they pulled up around the corner, gunfire echoing through the hallway. Peter had to press the fear down in the back of his throat as he heard his dad quietly talking to him. Tony's voice cracked and wandered the longer Peter listened. Still he forced himself to focus on the problem at hand and he looked over at the others before whispering, "Give me a few seconds, I'll see what we're looking at."

None argued so Peter took that as a confirmation. Carefully creeping up around the corner on the ceiling, he quickly watched three guards move through the doorway as gunfire continued to pop in the background.

Peter slid backward and dropped silently on the floor in front of the others, "They're already in the room, we need to go now." Peter paused as he heard his dad gasp over the coms and he felt the need to finish this quickly. But as he refocused, he realized the others were already moving. He quickly followed behind on the ceiling.

* * *

The men in the room fell quickly as the four descended on them. Even with their numbers, there was little they could to stop the might of even a few angry Avengers. As the fighting stilled, Natasha cautiously stepped out from cover and immediately got back to work, trusting the others would take care of Bucky and Steve.

Sam was the first to pull her attention, at least he attempted to, "Nat, we have to go, if they know you're here, its only a matter of time before they show up in force."

"I can't. I'm almost done but I'm not there yet. I need at least five more minutes." She jutted her chin forward without ever taking her eyes off the screen, "Get them back to the quinjet, I'll be right behind you."

Vision did not question her and immediately pulled Steve up to his shoulder and moved toward the door, slumping slightly under the super soldier's weight. Sam looked between Bucky and Natasha before he decided to listen to her. With Rhodey's help, they pulled Bucky up between them. Then Sam looked at the kid, "Peter, why don't you come grab Bucky? I'll stay with Natasha."

Peter followed his eye line, "No. I promised I would help Ms. Romanov. I'm staying until she's done." In confirmation of his decision, he stepped up behind the screens, looking over Natasha's shoulder, "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Sam and Rhodey took that as their cue to leave, there was no sense in fighting with the kid so instead they both independently resolved to get Bucky to the jet and head back if Natasha as still working.

As Peter stepped up, Natasha gave him a soft smile, "FRIDAY and I have it pretty much handled right now Peter." But in the glance, she saw the nervous energy in his face and so she quickly added, "Could have used you about twenty minutes ago though." She turned back to the screens, unconsciously ignoring him.

In the silence that followed he realized that his dad was not talking to him anymore. Stepping back from the computer screens, he quietly whispered into his coms, trusting Karen to sort out who he was trying to talk to, "Dad, can you hear me?"

There was a pained grunt on the other end of the line before Peter heard the weak voice answer him, "Hey kid...'m still here."

"You stopped talking," Peter knew he was being unfair, knew that it was not a good idea for Tony to be taking the energy to be talking to him but that did not stop him from needing the reassurance.

"I know Pete. 'm sorry...juss got a li-l tired." His voice was breathy, "Almost done?"

"I think so, Ms. Romanov said she almost had everything. The others are on their way back to you." He looked over at Ms. Romanov as she carefully studied the screen and realized he should probably be where he could be useful to her. As he talked, he leapt onto the ceiling, preparing for the men who could be coming.

Tony's voice pulled his attention back though, "Sounds good, kid."

Peter could hear the exhaustion in his tone and he felt the agitation growing in his stomach but he forced himself to answer, "Why don't you try to get some sleep? I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Be careful, Pete." Tony managed to squeak out before the coms cut off and Peter turned his attention back to Natasha, praying his dad would survive long enough for him to get back and hating the fact that he was even thinking that way. He could not help but unconsciously whisper, "Love you, dad," into his mic.

Only to hear the answering "Love you, kid," on the other end of the line.

* * *

 **So that's all I have for you right now! Thank you so much to those of you who have continued reading my story, its so awesome to know that other people are enjoying the story I am having so much fun writing.**

 **Let me know what you think and I hope you have a wonderful night/day! Stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


	13. Chapter 13

**The last chapter is finally here! Thank you to everyone who has continued to read this story, it means a lot. It's been a fun story to write and I hope that you've enjoyed it as much as I have.**

 **Without further ado, enjoy!**

* * *

Peter settled back into the corner of the ceiling, eyes fixed on the closed door before thinking of another solution that might buy them some time. Deliberately descending head first, Peter webbed the corners and the doorknob shut before climbing back up his web and settling in. He curled his arms around his legs as he sat on his haunches as he tried to focus on the job at hand.

At some point in the eternally long wait, the others called back that they had made it to the quinjet. Natasha answered, telling them to send a few people for backup and keep the others back to take care of those who were down. Clint answered and asked if there was anywhere in particular they should set up. Then Peter realized he should probably jump in on the conversation, "Mr. Barton, if a few people come down, it would be best to set up just down the hallway. I've got the door pretty well sealed off but if they mass up outside we won't have another way out."

"Alright, kid. Wanda, Vision, and I will be there soon. We'll post up in one of the rooms in your hallway. When you're ready to go, we'll come clear out any trouble and get you out. Does that work?" Clint answered, distracted as he called over his shoulder to others on the team.

"Sounds good." Natasha responded.

"We'll be there as soon as we can." Clint replied.

Peter wanted to ask about Tony before the coms went quiet but also knew that if he did, he would not be able to stop his response if it was bad news. Instead, he let the others finish their discussion even while he could not keep his mind from wandering at the prospect of information. Eventually he gave up on splitting his attention between the door and his concern. Speaking softly, he asked Karen instead, "Can you talk to FRIDAY and find out how my dad's doing?" He knew she would not judge his weakness.

She paused for a moment before her quiet, sympathetic voice filled his mask, "He's asleep Peter."

"That's not what I asked Karen. How's he doing?" He pressed, slightly annoyed at how deceptive she was being, it was not like her to hide things. If anything she normally gave him a little too much information.

"Mr. Stark asked FRIDAY not to tell me anything because he didn't want to alarm you or anyone else." Her kindhearted voice answered, the tone almost apologetic at the deception.

"I need to know what's going on Karen, please tell me." Peter practically begged, glad that no one else could hear him.

Unfortunately for Tony, he had long ago given Peter complete access to everything and Karen was able to override the order, "Mr. Stark is currently relatively stable but unconscious. FRIDAY told me that your solution is holding but he badly needs medical attention because the bullets need to be removed. The nanobots are helping to alleviate some of the pain but they cannot do much more." Peter shuddered, curling tighter around his knees as he watched the door below him. God he wanted Ms. Romanov to hurry up but he did not want to rush her. He knew they were doing this because of him.

When Karen said all she was going to say, she went quiet and soon Natasha's tapping was the only sound echoing through the metallic room. Knowing that Tony was at least stable for now made it easier for him to focus on the door and that gave him a chance to recognize the inevitable. He could feel the hair rise on the back of his neck and his sense in the back of his mind started to tingle as he realized they were about to have company. Without leaving his post, he warned Natasha, knowing that she was probably not quite ready, "Ms. Romanov, are you almost done? They are going to be here in the next minute or so."

"I need four more minutes, Peter. Do you think you can hold them off until then?" Her distracted voice came over the mic.

"As long as there are not too many of them, yah. I think they'll have a hard time getting through the door at least for now. And Mr. Barton said they would be here soon." Peter assured.

* * *

Only a minute later, the door shuddered and Peter heard Ms. Romanov curse through their coms. The door clanged again as something large and heavy hit it but the webs held tightly. The action forced Peter's mind into sharp focus. He crouched back, ready to either use his webs or jump into the fight if his measures gave way. As it was, he fired a few more webs down at the door, strengthening the impromptu lock and hopefully giving Ms. Romanov a little more time to finish. Then the metallic sound rang against the door again and Peter watched the first few threads of webbing start to give. "Ms. Romanov, stay behind the console, that's not going to hold them much longer."

"I'm almost there," Natasha responded through gritted teeth. The speed of the clicking picked up as she worked her way through the last of the encoded systems.

"We're about there too, Peter," Clint tapped into their conversation, "We can hear whatever they're using to batter the door. We'll give you some breathing room soon."

Peter heard all of that and then watched the door shudder again, "Good to know." He pressed out through a tensed throat as the ram slammed into the door again, causing the door frame to crack and more of the webbing to give way. There were only a few threads left so Peter set up for a fight, as soon as that hit again, they were going to have men on them. He crouched low against the wall, ready to grab as many of the men as he could. The metal rang against the door but the lingering ring was cut short as the door snapped open, slamming into the wall behind it as three men fell into the room. Before they could even regain their footing, Peter released two splitter webs, quickly pulling all three of the men up to the ceiling with him. He effectively webbed them to the high walls and put them out of commission. But more men pushed into the room and Peter fired webbing straight down at them, gumming up the muzzles of the guns they had pointed up at him. Realizing that was about all he could do from the ceiling, he dropped into the thick of it. He pulled his punches but if he hit a bit harder than he intended, he had a hard time feeling as bad about it as he probably should have. He managed to knock out at least two of the men before another one stumbled into the room and collapsed on the ground, an arrow imbedded between his shoulder blades. Then the men in the doorway were barreled forward as a body rolled toward Peter's feet, a red crackling energy dispersing from around him.

Two more arrows struck another man in the room and then suddenly, Wanda and Clint were standing in the doorway. Peter could see Vision over their shoulder, watching down the hallway. Clint looked the kid up and down before seemingly satisfied and calling back, "Nat, we gotta go."

She did not answer him for a few heartbeats, the keys continuing to click before she finally snapped, "Done," and pulled something out of the monitor. As she ran passed Peter, she clapped his shoulder, "Let's go." And the five took off down the hallway, skittering away before anyone else showed up.

* * *

The deafening sound of sirens caught up with them when they were only half way back, and each picked up the pace just a little more, their feet pounding against the tiled floor in an effort to beat their enemies back to the quinjet. They almost made it back when a force of men came bounding into their path. They reacted immediately, more prepared for the confrontation than the men who found them. Wanda did the bulk of the damage, quickly disabling four men while the rest of them took care of the others. Within minutes they were back on the move again. Rhodey was waiting for them to make it to their floor, joining their mad dash as soon as he saw them come into view.

* * *

As soon as Peter knew the quinjet was close, he took off, quickly outpacing the others as he bolted up the stairs and then up the ramp. Finally ensconced back in the jet he glanced to the other beds now occupied by Bucky and Steve. Neither seemed to be in any pain or distress so Peter kept going to where he could see Dr. Banner and Sam hovering over the bed. It was a small space and he found himself stretching up on his tiptoes to try to see over Dr. Banner's shoulder. As the man noticed the curious face behind him, he stepped back. He grabbed onto Peter's elbow and shoved him forward toward the bed. Without acknowledging Sam, Peter dropped onto his knees next to his dad as his mask melted away. Unconsciously, he grabbed a hold of his hand. Peter had been prepared to see his dad in bad shape but seeing it in person caused guilt and pain to war for supremacy in his stomach. Tony was pale with sweat beading on his brow and his eyes were closed, his face was scrunched in pain. Peter knew everything Karen had told him earlier was true and he desperately wanted to go, to leave, to get help. Peter turned as the echoing boots of the others clanged up the ramp. Catching Natasha's eye through the angled legs of Sam and Bruce, Peter spoke up, his voice much stronger than he had imagined it would be, "Ms. Romanov, we need to go. Now. We need to get home." His voice was strained as he tried to keep himself from begging.

"I know, Peter." She said apologetically, taking one look at what she could see of Tony, then looking at Steve and Bucky before sprinting up to the front of the jet, followed by Clint, the two of them getting the plane in the air.

* * *

Bruce looked over at Sam and he knelt down next to Peter. He bumped the kid's shoulder before he murmured, "He'll be alright."

Peter gave him a thankful look but knew that the situation was worse than the others probably knew, if FRIDAY tried to lie to him, she definitely was not telling the others the whole truth. They just needed to get home. But instead of commenting, he glanced over at the other occupied beds and tried to redirect the conversation, "How are Cap and Bucky doing?"

Sam knelt down next to him and followed his gaze, "Oh don't worry about them." He said flippantly, "they'll be fine, they got hit by whatever they were drugging you with. They went down hard but they just need to sleep it off. Other than that, it'll just be their pride that's injured." Sam tried to lighten the mood but the minute he took in the misery on Peter's face he knew it was not the right direction to take. He sobered quickly, "Sorry, Peter." He laid his hand on his arm, "Trust me, Tony's nothing if he's not stubborn. He'll keep fighting." Falcon promised as Bruce added his reassurances into the mix, "Tony's been through worse Peter, I promise. We'll get him home and you'll be back in the lab in no time." He clapped Peter on the shoulder before he stood and gestured to Sam to do the same.

Peter watched them walk away before he turned back to his dad. Folding his hands up to make a pillow for his head, he laid over their clutched hands, alternating a stare between Tony's scrunched face and the wall behind him. He tried to let the hum of the engine lull him be sleep but sleep was elusive and instead he found himself wishing the jet was faster.

* * *

The flight was spent in silence.

Sam and Rhodey took turns checking over the three downed members as the others kept vigil over those they could do nothing to help. There was a feeling of relieved desperation in the cabin every time Tony groaned or shifted and Peter's head shot up and the mask covered his face as he talked quietly to Karen. When the whispers stopped, the mask would slid back again and the look on his face was more anxious than it was before.

* * *

Karen's latest report was less than positive and he called up to the cockpit, "Ms. Romanov, Mr. Barton? How long until we get back to the Compound?"

"Twenty-six minutes Peter. We're almost there." Natasha's strained voice carried over the quiet space.

Peter did not answer, just gave a quiet affirmation of the information and went back to laying over their clasped hands.

* * *

Twenty-six minutes passed like a lifetime and as the quinjet landed, the medical team was already on the tarmac, quickly loading Tony onto a stretcher as two more teams did the same for Steve and Bucky. Peter followed behind them for as long as he could until the operating doors shut in his face. He knew he could not go any farther and instead, he slowly slipped into a chair next to the door, pulling his legs up onto the chair in front of him and wrapping his arms around his knees. He buried his chin into his knees and finally felt the soft tracking of tears start when he could not keep them at bay anymore. He did not sob though, he just stared at the wall across from him. The others showed up not too long after and Rhodey sat down next to him, throwing an arm over his shoulder in a comforting gesture. Peter leaned back onto the comfortable arm but could not bring himself to curl into the man's hold. Instead, he let his head thump back against the wall.

* * *

May and Pepper showed up not too long after that, both women had been together when Clint had called Pepper to let her know what happened. Pepper tore open the door to the waiting room as May followed her in.

When Rhodey saw the two hurry into the room, he shifted to the open chair next to him, allowing May to slip passed Pepper and slid into the seat beside Peter. She immediately wrapped him up. She buried her hand in his hair and pulled him close as his shoulders finally started to shake. Pepper knelt down in front of the two, laying her hand on Peter's shoulder, trying to give another measure of comfort to the distraught young man but she could not help her own concern as she glanced at the door.

As soon as the Peter's soft sobs tore from his throat, the rest of the Avengers ducked their heads, well aware of his pain and knowing nothing they could say or do to make it any better. The rest were slowly coming down off the high of the mission and the tears of their youngest member drove home the danger they had just negated. Natasha had tears of her own in her eyes and Clint threw his arm around her shoulder as he pulled her close. Wanda and Vision were not much more composed and even Rhodey had his head resting against the wall behind him, his eyes closed. They would need to debrief and figure out what they had information wise but for right now there was a significant level of comfort even in this distraught togetherness, in taking a breath after the events of the last six days. For as terrible as the reason for the pause was, at least it was a pause.

* * *

They all stayed where they were until the doctors appeared.

Steve and Bucky would be fine, both were stable and sleeping off the tranquilizer but it took longer for them to hear about Tony. Peter had long ago stopped sobbing against his aunt's shoulder and Pepper had taken up the seat next to the two of them. She had her arms curled around May's shoulders, keeping a hand on the kid that meant so much to her husband. All three of them jumped up when the doctor appeared in the doorway.

The doctor fixed them with a kind stare before he allowed a soft smile to cross his face, "Tony will make a full recovery. He's in an induced coma right now while he heals but he'll be alright."

The held breath in the room dissipated as they got the news. But it was Peter who took a step away from his Aunt, "Can I see him?" Pepper stepped up at his question, her own request obvious in her eyes.

"Of course, Peter." The doctor answered, well acquainted with the lot of the Avengers. He pressed open the door behind him and slid out of the way so the younger man and Pepper could enter. When he held the door open a bit longer, the rest of the Avengers followed their lead. They had multiple members to visit.

* * *

 _God he hated waking up this way._ Tony slowly groaned into waking as he rolled his head across the pillow while he convinced himself to open his eyes. His vision came back fuzzy at first as he took in the world around him, the pale blue hospital room that he knew too well. The mop of hair on the edge of the bed was a little surprising until he tried to move his arm and realized it was not going anywhere because someone with curly brown hair was laying on it. Smiling, he carefully laid his other, still gauntleted hand into the hair, savoring the feeling of comfort at knowing, finally knowing, that Peter was safe.

* * *

Peter felt a gentle hand in his hair and sluggishly pulled himself out of his relatively restless sleep. It took his exhausted mind a moment to realize what was going on as he blinked into awareness, lifting his head off his pooled arms and accidentally pushing the hand off his head. He blinked owlishly, clearing his vision and focusing on Tony, "Hey, dad," he whispered, feeling the scratchiness of his throat.

"Hey Pete," Tony answered, his own disused throat irritated and his voice deep. "How long have I been out?"

"Five days," Peter answered quickly as he sat up a bit higher in the chair, pulling it closer and leaning forward on the bed, unconsciously trying to shift closer. "I've been really worried," he hesitated, "So have Pepper, Morgan, May…really everyone has been." He finished softly.

"I'm sorry, Peter." Tony responded, completely unsure of what else to say, lost for words at one of the few times in his life. Instead, he reached out the hand Peter had been laying on, palm up. He smiled when his son snatched it up, leaning farther over the bed.

"It's okay, just don't do that again, alright? No more getting shot." His voice was quiet, sounding so much younger than he had in a long time. Unfortunately, there was nothing about getting older that prepared you for almost losing a parent, especially if you had already lost three.

"I promise, Pete," He said, his voice low as he cast his eyes down. Then he tugged carefully on the hand Peter was holding. The kid seemed to get the message and climbed onto the bed, easily sliding down next to him and tucking himself into his dad's shoulder.

"I'm sorry for making you worry," Tony whispered into the hair tickling his chin.

"It's alright, dad, I won't worry as long as you're alright." Peter sighed heavily into Tony's shoulder.

"I'm good." Tony leaned back carefully and when he did, he saw the dark bags under his kid's eyes. He felt guilty knowing that was his fault, so he asked, "How are you doing?"

"Better, finally better." Peter whispered, a lightness to his tone that had not been there in a long time. Then he continued, "I'm just a little tired."

Tony slowly rubbed his other hand up and down Peter's arm, absentmindedly realizing that the cast had come off some time since they had gotten back and there was one of his gauntlets in its place. He could feel the weakness in his fingers but it seemed like the healing capabilities were working. Forcing his wandering mind back to the present, he solved the problem at hand, "Alright then, kid, time to get some sleep." He looked down at Peter and he could feel the soft smile creep across his face, "Some real sleep, Pete."

Peter managed to cover a stifled yawn as he relaxed against his dad's shoulder, taking comfort in the familiar position, "Can we watch Empire?"

"Whatever you want," Tony replied as he relaxed against his pillows. He knew he had to have stitches and he was careful not to move too much as he shifted slightly, "FRIDAY, play Empire."

Peter carefully moved farther into his dad's side and closed his eyes even as the tone of the theme song echoed through the room. He knew he was not going to make it much longer but he was ready for some real sleep now that he knew Tony was safe.

* * *

Natasha and Rhodes waited in the lobby of the Oval Office, folders of information held tightly on their laps. They had a meeting with President Ellis that was supposed to start twenty minutes ago but, as was typical, something else came up. Both let their minds wander as they sat shoulder to shoulder. After they had found out about Tony, and Steve and Bucky had woken up, they had a meeting to debate what to do with the information they had recovered. It was thousands of pages of research, experimentation, and conclusions and they found an uncorrupted video of Peter's captivity. It was enough information to bury all those involved. They debated between blackmailing Ross and the Generals and turning them into the President, ultimately they decided on a compromise. Natasha and Rhodes were tasked with filling in Ellis but they had every intention of keeping the information in case Ross ever came after any of them again, or if Ellis did not have the backbone to do what needed to be done.

* * *

Eventually the ornate wooden door opened and Ellis's assistant gestured for them to enter. Both stood stiffly and marched into the room. Ellis was sitting behind the Resolute Desk, signing a few papers as he hung up the phone. As he finished, he looked up at the pair standing at attention before him, "What can I do for you Colonel?" He looked to Natasha, "Ms. Romanov?" He stood from behind the desk and moved between the two to a table set in the middle of the room. Both Avengers followed, taking up the chairs next to each other. Both glanced up at the assistance who stood behind Ellis with an IPad.

Rhodey started, his voice commanding but deferential, "Mr. President, sir. As much as I hate to tell you this, we need to keep this meeting completely confidential," Rhodey started before pulling out one of Tony's numerous inventions. Before he switched it on, he explained, "This will scramble any monitoring or recording equipment but I also need to ask that your assistant leaves as well."

Ellis regarded him seriously before looking at the steely expression of the Black Widow, "Is that completely necessary?"

"Unfortunately it is," Rhodey answered, before flicking on the device.

"You heard the Colonel, David. I'll call you when we're done, hold all my calls until then." The president easily dismissed his assistant.

"Yes sir," the young man responded, nodding before he promptly left.

"Alright, Colonel, Ms. Romanov, what can I do for you?" Ellis asked as he leaned back into the plush chair.

"Sir, you have a serious problem in your administration. Secretary Ross," Rhodes paused when he saw the president roll his eyes and sigh but he did not comment, "has been targeting the Avengers in an effort to create a team to compensate for the recall of the Sokovia Accords." As he said it, Natasha laid out the files on each of the team members they had planned attacks on and stacked the funding paperwork with Ross's scratched signature on top. Rhodey continued, "They were using Hammer Industries to carry it out. Ross and some of the members of your Joint Chiefs," Natasha laid out that evidence as well, "ordered the kidnap and torture of at least one of the Avengers."

Ellis's eyes widened as he took in the documents, "Colonel Rhodes," he started slowly, "you do realize the implications of these charges?"

"I do, sir, and if we did not have the evidence we have we would not have come to you." Rhodes answered slowly, an inherent threat in his statement but without the verbalization, it only remained a possibility.

The president's eyes raised a little farther when he picked up on it, "What other evidence do you have? I cannot fire half of my Joint Chiefs and my Secretary of State because of some paperwork." He gestured at the files laid out before him.

"We are aware of that sir," Rhodey said squashing his annoyance at the tone, before he turned to give the order, "FRIDAY, play Hammer's confession." The video projected in front of them as Natasha's voice echoed through the grand office and Hammer's obvious discomfort was clear as he answered Natasha's demands. Then he gave up Ross's name. Ellis's eyes widened when he heard the extent of the operation connected with his Secretary. But then the information stopped and Natasha called for FRIDAY. As soon as Tony stepped in the room to answer Natasha's request, Ellis looked up suddenly, "Tony Stark is involved in this?"

"He is," Rhodey said warily, "please just watch, sir." But then he regretted saying that as Tony's methods became obvious. Rhodey flinched at the sound of begging and breaking bone that preceded Hammer's confession before the video cut out.

Ellis glanced up at the two of them, anger and frustration clear on his face, "Colonel, you know as well as I do that what he just said does not mean anything. Stark broke his arm to get what he wanted. I can't use that as evidence for anything."

As much as he did not want to do this, Rhodey continued, holding his hands in front of him as he tried to get the man back on his side, "Sir, that's not all we have."

"Fine," Ellis fumed, "What else?" He was dangerously close to sending the obviously paranoid Avengers out of his office but he also knew he owed them.

"FRIDAY, please Peter's phone call." The sounds of screams were replaced with an eerie silence broken with intermittent sobs as video of Peter's phone call to Tony played through the room. Rhodey watched Ellis flinch as he took a moment to understand what he was looking at. Peter was obviously curled in the center of the room as Tony's good-humored voice played through the large room. His hand flew to his mouth as the voice changed with Peter's plaintive call of "dad". They sat in silence as the scene progressed, their desperate conversation clearly audible until the heavy metal door opened and drew attention to the men who entered. It was clear as soon as Hammer stepped inside who it was and Ellis drew back in confirmation of everything they had been telling him. Rhodey let the video play as the brutish guard broke Peter's wrist and through the beating they gave him afterward, just to make sure he had the president's attention. As the video finally ended, everyone in the room sat in silence for a time before Ellis spoke again.

"That young man, is he alright?" Ellis asked true concern coloring his sickened tone.

"He is now." Natasha spoke up for the first time in the meeting, "But only after Stark rescued him."

"And he's Tony's son?" The hesitation in his tone made it obvious that he felt guilty asking about the young man who called Tony Stark 'dad'.

"It's complicated," Rhodes tried to answer, "Tony's all but adopted him," he answered and he hoped that the explanation might justify some of the brutality from the video they showed earlier.

The president nodded thoughtfully but Rhodey continued, "Sir, I hope you understand, we need to protect ourselves. This is happening in your administration and we wanted to let you know before it went any farther. But Ross tortured one of our own and has threatened further action against us. We will defend ourselves." His voice held no space for argument.

The president rocked back in his seat as he weighed his options, eventually answering, "I get it Colonel and I'll take care of Ross." Then he leaned forward and grabbed at the paperwork laid out on the table in front of him, "Is this mine?"

"Yes sir but I also need to let you know that we have multiple backups of this information." Rhodey answered.

"I would expect no less Colonel." The president smirked slightly as he said it, well aware of the careful behavior of the Avengers. "Is there anything else?" He asked warily.

"No, sir. As long as the problem is taken care of, we don't have anything else." Rhodey answered the question.

"I will see to it Colonel, it will be dealt with before the end of the week," he said as he stood, waiting for Natasha and Rhodey to do the same. Rhodes leaned forward and turned off the device before shaking the President's hand and Natasha did the same. But as she held his hand, Natasha leaned forward, "Sir, you should put that in a secure location before anyone else is brought in."

"Of course," he said before he stood and laid the paperwork in one of the locked drawers of the Resolute Desk. He pulled down on his suit as he righted himself and looked at the two Avengers, "I will take care of this personally." He held out his hand in a promise, "Please give Tony my best wishes for his son."

Rhodey shook his hand again, "Thank you sir, I will." Knowing full well that Tony would only give a damn if something was actually done.

* * *

Tony was finally allowed out of the bed. Peter had been at his side nearly every day and today was no different only this time the younger man was chattering incessantly as he hovered by Tony's side while they walked to the living room. He had finally gotten some sleep and was getting back to normal as he practically bounced along.

They made it to the couches in the living room and Peter helped Tony sit down before plopping down on the couch next to them. The clinginess was slowly abating, neither one was as quick to grab at the other but Peter still could not help but sit close and Tony was not ready for him to sit any farther away as he threw his good arm around his kid's shoulders and relaxed into the couch with a sigh. Peter stopped talking then and just enjoyed sitting, somehow reigning in his energy.

They were chatting about a movie to watch when Rhodey walked up behind them and laid his hands on the back of the couch, "FRIDAY, play CNN."

Tony could not help but jump slightly at his presence but the confident tone of the broadcaster cut through anything he could think to say, "In a surprising course of events, Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross and three members of the Joint Chiefs, Generals Ryke and Fletcher, respectively of the Army and Marines, and Chairman Slade were removed from the Ellis Administration." Tony felt Peter tense beside him and shared his anxiety, pulling him closer. But the announcer continued, "There has been a rumor of a connection between their removal and the recent closed door trial of weapons designer Justin Hammer. As of now, no charges have been filed." The woman continued, completely unaware of the affect her words had on the three Avengers in the room. Tony unconsciously rubbed his hand up and down Peter's arm as his kid hugged him in return. Rhodey put a hand on each of their shoulders and quietly said, "It's over."

Tony tipped his head back to look at his best friend, "Thanks Rhodey. For everything."

"Any time, Tony." Rhodes said with a small smile as he pushed himself off the couch back and moved into the kitchen.

Tony turned back to Peter, "So, what do we want to watch?" They would talk about the news later but for now, they just needed to be.

"Umm, well there's this really old movie…" Peter trailed off with a smile as Tony smacked his shoulder.

"Kid, half your movies aren't even that old." He exclaimed and then proceeded to let him pick anyway. They ended up watching Predator and actually finished it this time.

* * *

 **Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed it and I hope the ending was alright.**

 **I hope everyone has a wonderful night/day and stay creative!**

 **-Lily**


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